


Back To The Past

by AbyssUnknown



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: ...well i think its 50 years but my math sucks tbh, 50 years back into the Hogwarts time, ANYHOW, Also Harry needs help too tbh, Angst, Author is very, BAMF Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows involved, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Harry Potter Has PTSD, Harry Potter is a Peverell, Harry is a gd person in my opinion, He hallucinates, I love my made-up Polaris Lovegood, In Disguise, I’m biased, M/M, Multi, Oops, Political Harry Potter, Professor Harry Potter, Pureblood Politics (Harry Potter), Slytherin Harry Potter, Smart Harry, Smart Harry Potter, Somehow, Sorry Harry, Teacher Harry Potter, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Time Travelling Harry Potter, Tom Riddle's time, Well Harry certainly is trying to fix it, biased to Harry Potter, but he is still not gd with emotion, but someone needs to take care of him, but still he is, harry be smarter, hehe, he’s traumatised inside, i love u tho Harry, iS tHis even HoW i sshld be tagging?, im realising I’m very biased to Harry, like i said, sigh, someone look after Harry pls, tho Harry is gg to be making them think, very, whoops, yeah I’m still gg to put Harry under angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:21:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 42,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26544406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbyssUnknown/pseuds/AbyssUnknown
Summary: A really impromptu fic of Harry going way, way back in time to give the magical world a second chance. He's back in Riddle's time as a student(mostly) and is simply going to wreck havoc.PS: I posted this initially on my fanfiction.net account so if you've seen this there already, rest assured I'm not stealing someone else's work. Just posting my own stuff here cuz I realized I haven't been using this account...
Relationships: Harry/??? - Relationship, Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger/Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood/Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom/Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood, While he is in the past, brief mentions tho - Relationship, cuz its Harry’s memories
Comments: 39
Kudos: 142





	1. Travelling Backwards

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a random time travel fic.  
> I have no idea where this one is going. lol.
> 
> Also, disclaimer: I sadly don't own the Harry Potter series. Not the books. Not even the movies. It's sad. I am aware. Thank gods we can still write fanfic! This plot - as much as it is not even complete - is still mine though. So please don't steal...

Their latest hideout was not necessarily the best, Harry supposed as he stared up at the missing roof. The full moon shone brightly down into the white walled room, lighting up the runes that decorated most of the floor.

"It's almost time. Once the moon reaches her peak, the ritual would work."

Harry turned to Hermione.

"You have the time turner?"

The brunette witch nodded, her half-burnt face giving away no emotion. Harry stared at his best friend, taking in the way she stood with her chin tilted up, shoulders pulled back. She had never crumpled, like some other witches and wizards had, as the war had left them with disfigurements and scars. _But then again, Hermione never did take time to look after herself. She had deemed it to be a waste. Especially when everything and everyone else needed looking after. Needed someone to protect them._ She had become every bit the weary, spiritless yet alive warrior that they had all been forced to turn into since they were thirteen-years-old.

"Alright then, let's – "

"Harry, _they_ are coming."

The party of four tensed. Harry looked at the dark-haired man kneeling on the ground. The man looked up, locking his gaze with him. His palm never left the ground.

"I reckon we have fifteen minutes before they make it though the traps and wards."

Harry's mind whirled, bringing up and cancelling out the options that they had. There were few.

"The moon still has five more minutes to reach her position. And the ritual itself is indeterminate in how long the deities would take to bless it through. We need more time," Hermione whispered, arriving at the same conclusion as him.

Their last companion broke the silence.

"We would need three for that. Or we would lose. Only one is destined to make it through."

Her whispery voice no longer retained the dream-like quality that Harry had often heard in his youth. He stared at his friends as he felt three pair of eyes lock on him.

"Me." He didn't argue with their decision. He had learnt long ago that sometimes his team knew why they chose him as the leader even though he himself still doubted his capability.

Hermione gave a sad smile.

"You are the best for the job, love. And there are some destinies that cannot be altered no matter how much we wish." For the first time in the two years that Ron had died, Harry witnessed his best friend's eyes shine with tears.

"Come over everyone. If we are not going with him, then let's give him the best chance we got."

They huddled over to the brunette witch without questions. She was rummaging through a beaded pink bag. It was worn and dirty but had faithfully served the witch through the years of wars.

Hermione pulled out a piece of paper, slightly crumpled and clearly torn around one edge. It had been ripped from its book from the looks of things. Harry allowed himself a small smile at the sight. _This would make it the second time the book-worshipping woman had torn a page from a tome._ In his heart, he wished she had not had to have done it. Hermione only ripped pages when things were dire. Like when a hungry basilisk roamed the walls of Hogwarts.

"I found this very old spell. It's meant to make the caster grant the recipient one gift. No matter how impossible, as long as the caster has rights to what he or she gives and gives it willingly, the gift can be given. It can even be the caster's very magic. And I think in this time of parting, this is the best method for us to give you some last help and a proper farewell." Hermione stared at the paper, lost briefly in some thought. "I've changed it to suit our powers since this was originally made for the lords and ladies of the long past. They are said to be only second to Lady Magic in their powers, since they had not wandered from their roots and culture like we have."

She looked up to face Harry. "I'm going to grant you the memories I have. Everything from the moment I was born which would naturally include any knowledge I have learnt."

"Not your intelligence?" Harry joked lightly.

Hermione smiled bitterly. "No. You have plenty of that in you Harry. It's just been hindered by the Dursleys' in your youth. You have conquered most of that barrier over these years. I hope my memories will give you the final push to do it out of interest rather than necessity."

Hermione whispered the spell softly, letting pure magic from her core reach out to bestow her gift onto Harry. She stepped to her best friend and placed a lingering kiss on his lips. Harry returned it gently, holding her form tight within his arms.

"Of course, I hope they will bring you company for some of the lonely times ahead too. Don't forget any of us, alright?"

Harry gave a weak chuckle. "As if I could."

The witch stepped back with a small smile and handed the paper over to Luna.

"I cannot grant you my Sight. And my memories may not bring you the same comfort Hermione's will, considering hers is filled with most of your loved ones. But I shall give you knowledge all the same. The knowledge I have of creatures and the passing thoughts I have had from anything under the sun. They may not help at making you better or provide you with knowledge to protect yourself. But I hope they help you smile. To think of life from a different perspective. To find again the beauty of the things around us even in hardships."

Luna whispered the spell, a hint of dreamlike quality entering her voice. "Farewell Harry Potter. I thank you for being my friend."

Harry knew kissing was not the best when one or both parties were crying. But he didn't care. He held the petite woman close, brushing a tender kiss onto her forehead when Luna ended the sweet kiss she was giving him on his lips for goodbye.

"Thanks, little moon."

Harry turned to the last friend he had left, not one bit shamed that he was showing his vulnerability for the first time in years.

"I'm afraid I don't know if what I can gift is useful either. But Mione did say this can give the impossible." Neville, unlike the girls, stepped up to Harry before even casting the gift and took the emerald-eyed warrior's face in his hands.

"I give you my blood's inheritance, Harry. The house of Longbottom that I own, it belongs to you too. I know you have your own Lordships but I want you to remember. Even if the people you are going to will not know you or care with align to you, the Magic of the Longbottom House will forever be in your favour, even across time. And I'll have your back that way so don't you ever think that you're alone, ok?"

Neville murmured the spell like the other two but did it wandlessly. His hands never stopped caressing Harry's face. The moment the spell ended, the man bent down and gave his own parting kiss to his friend. Harry smiled through his tears. Like all the other times he had kissed Neville, this kiss too was deep. And full of love.

Harry gave his friends a glance once Neville pulled back. He drank in the sight of the three greedily, knowing even though he hated it, that he would never see them again. _And even if I did by some miracle, they wouldn't be the same. They wouldn't be **my** Mione, little Moon and Nev._

The flare of magic behind him signalled the moon's journey across the sky had reached its peak. Harry knew they had about a few minutes before the ritual would become nullified if he didn't move.

"What if I fail?" There. He had laid out his fear to them. The fear that had always lingered. That had proved itself true over the years when he held the dead form of Ron, Ginny and the _countless_ others in the past three years.

His three friends smiled.

"You won't," Hermione assured.

"In the end of the day, love, it's not even about changing the past."

"It's not?" Harry asked brokenly, wondering what Luna was thinking now.

"It's about escaping it. Preventing it comes second. But escaping it is the most important. Why would we try to leave this present, love, if we could have borne it in our souls to live with it."

Harry laughed weakly at the warped logic in the blonde's words. Neville steered him to the centre of the ritual gently.

"Don't worry too much, if you cannot change a thing, Harry. It's fine. We know you would have tried. And in the end, if you simply give it up and try to live peacefully and take a chance at living the life you have been denied all these years – well we wouldn't care, Harry. If that is what makes you happy and that is what you wish to do, do it."

Harry gave the man a glare. "You know I wouldn't give up! Not after all we've been through!"

Hermione gently helped the affronted man wear the time turner she had created before placing a placating hand on his cheek. "We know you won't. But we are giving you that option too. You have done so much love. It's alright to want something for yourself."

Harry took in the smiling faces of his three friends.

"Idiots. As if I even want that option."

"But it will be there, nonetheless," Luna replied. "You may not want to take it but know that it is there to liberate you all the same. You are inadvertently going to pave a new path, Harry. You are allowed to live it fully. Even while you change the past, you can live happily. Learn to love again. Learn to laugh again too."

Even against his wishes, Harry felt something coiled within his chest relax.

"I will try, little moon."

Hermione grasped his hand in hers.

"Don't try lightly. Give it your best shot, ok?" She frowned slightly at his silence. "Please Harry. Don't go back just to live in misery all over again."

Harry closed his eyes, ignoring the pain that came with the thought at learning to live without his friends who had been through thick and thin with him.

"I'll do the best I can. I promise you guys that."

The other two closed in on the duo and the group melted into an embrace.

"Even if you fall in love with someone who may have once been an enemy or is still an enemy, know that we will never hate you," Luna whispered into the silence.

Neville and Hermione understood that the blonde witch never wasted her breath on words not meant to be spoken. So, they completed the reassurance that the once quirky witch gave without hesitation.

"Yes, we wouldn't care Harry," Neville affirmed.

"As long as you are happy in the end, know you will have our loyalty and blessings. Even across time," Hermione finished.

Harry let out a small smile. _But you three already know the road for healing is a long path that will never end. No matter that time may heal some wounds. Living without you three will be a life half-lived for me even after centuries._

"I'll try," he said again, knowing all in the room did not believe him, even his own heart.

"Oh and also – pardon me for my language but – don't let anybody give you shit about anything ok?" Neville added, casually clamping his hand onto Harry's mouth to stop protests. "You are too nice sometimes, Harry. Even after being through wars you haven't lost that quality. If you feel it is something worth fighting for, fight for it," the man said simply. "Don't bother trying to make everyone happy."

The girls giggled lightly at the mock glare Neville sent Harry.

"I'll try you idiots. I'll try."

His friends didn't reply, they simply let go of him and raised their wands silently, smiling their sad yet happy smiles as they started to chant the words to a ritual in Harry's stead. Harry knew that they knew he had no strength to do it himself. He did not want to leave them in their last moments.

 _Because I know the moment I vanish, your last moments will begin their countdown, you silly, loyal idiots. You three would take **them** down, I know. But you will do it at the expense of your own lives. _Harry looked down at the slowly strengthening magic around him. _For this is our last resort and what more do you have to live and try for when the last desperate measure is tried and gone?_

Harry looked the three in their eyes, drinking in the image of the last living magicals in the world. Three warriors who he knew he was never going to meet again.

His heart gave a painful lurch.

_Lord Death, I beg you, allow my friends a fair death. Allow their souls to find peace when they enter your lands. Allow them remorse for the murders they have been forced to commit in this cruel, cruel world. Allow them a second chance. Please…_

The faint sounds of armed men reached the four. Harry closed his eyes, feeling the magic in the circle strengthen. A white glow emerging from the time turner signalled that their ritual had passed the test.

He would be going back in time.

He gave his friends – his comrades – one last look. And a beat later, with whispered words of "Love you", Harry Potter vanished into nothingness.

A sob escaped from Hermione's trembling lips. The remaining two magicals in the room scooped her up in an embrace, placing comforting kisses on the crying witch's forehead. They stayed that way together, uncaring of the growing sound of men closing in on them in their no longer secret hideout.

Hermione gathered her composure in a minute or two and simply remained limp against her friends' arms.

"You know," Luna started conversation casually, as though she were discussing the weather while catching up with old friends, instead of counting her last moments on the planet. "I've heard that a magical opening their core with the intent of death is capable of causing massive destruction in an old folk lore. I wonder what will happen when three do it, after merging their cores."

Hermione and Neville gave weak chuckles at the witch's comment. But still they opened up their magic to each other, letting the energy twine around tightly before travelling towards the now humming blonde witch's core. Luna's magic welcomed their combined energies happily, twining itself around theirs till it was impossible to recognize whose magic was which.

The three let the ball of pure energy grow between them, uncaring of the blistering heat that was caressing their forms. Right before they all were engulfed, the three chanted in one voice.

_"To the deities above, we give our apologies._

_We are sorry Lady Magic, for using your gift for this desperate act._

_We are sorry Lord Death, for seeking entry to your land without invite._

_Forgive us universe, for our saddened souls' last act."_

The three stood with hands clasped as their magics engulfed their bodies. For a moment, all was still. Then an explosion of monstrous proportions took place, travelling to almost four kilometres in radius. It took down the armed forces of fifty men outside the no longer secret hideaway and many more lives within the vicinity, though mysteriously enough no life that that was non-human in nature was affected.

And in the spot where three friends had huddled together in their last embrace, only ashes remained.

But a wind that passed by in the calm that followed the destruction would steal away those last pieces, erasing the evidence of three magicals' final acts.

* * *

Harry was not sure who was more surprised. The goblins or him.

Judging from how none of them had yet pulled out their weapons at him, Harry supposed the goblins were more shocked.

Then his eyes fell onto the young creature that was nearest to where he had appeared.

His mind went blank. Deep down his heart and somewhere in his mind, he knew that he should not be careless about his true past. But in the moment where his mind recognised the young green face before him to be the same as the older, grumpier version he had known since he was eleven, Harry lost his composure.

The wizard's movement however, triggered the frozen goblins around the room into action. Instinct kicking in, the creatures called their weapons to their arms and as one, each of the remaining goblins moved with the aim to take out the perceived threat to one of their younger kin.

But the sight of the mysterious wizard sweeping said younger one into a hug while crying hysterically had most of them stilling again.

"You're alive! By the goddess! You are ALIVE!"

* * *


	2. Harry is hired

He stared at the gates that loomed above him, looking even more intimidating than usual under a sky full of swirling grey clouds. The two stone winged boars decorating the wall on either side of the gates added to the atmosphere of solemnity Harry felt as their scrutinizing gaze washed over him.

Lightning flashed overhead and a clap of thunder followed in its wake.

And suddenly he was standing at the gates again _–_

_Watching the gory scene before him in mounting horror._

**_They_ ** _had found Hogwarts and had magnanimously decided to let that knowledge be known. Three garlands made of reddish sticks had been left hanging. One on the gate itself and one each on the winged boars guardians. The middle garland – the biggest one of them all, ranging the height of the gate itself – had a fake skull accompanying it with a note attached._

_Upon closer inspection, the red would prove itself to be blood and the sticks the wands of the long dead._

_He remembered staring at one stick in particular avidly. He felt Hermione's trembling form beside him._

_Fourteen inches long, made of willow, with a core of unicorn hair._

_Grief wrecked his entire being. A hollow ache grew in his chest, burning him. He resisted the urge to claw at it, to tear out his own heart if only to stop himself from feeling that utter despair coursing through his veins._

_He fell to his knees, eyes never leaving that bloodied wand hanging loose among various others._

_He had died his very first death there with the confirmation that that master-less wand had provided._

_The note in the skull's mouth had been less chilling. The words in it simply reaffirming the message they had already inferred from the bold message that hung on the entrance of their sanctuary._

**_THE NEXT TIME, IT WILL BE HEADS, FREAKS._ **

Harry blinked away the memory, forcing his mind back to his current reality. Now was not the time to remember the war.

* * *

He was wandering around the corridors, taking his time in travelling to the Headmaster's office. Behind him, he could vaguely hear the chatter from the great hall. He was likely to be late for the meeting, truthfully but he cared not.

Harry brushed his fingers against the ancient walls of the castle. His magic gathered at his fingers, seeping into the silent walls. A beat later, warmth flooded his fingertips as the castle greeted him back in response.

He smiled.

_Home. Oh, how I've missed you._

He remembered the times his friends and family had once freely traversed its corridors, laughing and living without much worry.

And then the wars had come and had so cruelly ripped that happiness apart.

_Hogwarts lay in ruins. Crumbled, blasted, destroyed to ashes. It was like a piece of ancient relic that had weathered and failed against the test of time._

_But the blood and corpses scattered around the grounds brutally pointed out what the destruction truly was about._

_A moment of human cruelty._

_A moment in war._

"Who are you?"

He couldn't help it. Harry whipped around to face the voice, wand falling into his hand from where he had stored it away up his sleeve. His body tensed, prepared to move swiftly and efficiently in the case of a threat. Curses were already at the tip of his tongue.

Apparently, a year of recuperation had not done him any favor in dampening war instincts.

A once familiar face stared at him from across the hallway. A perfect eyebrow rose in curious suspicion at his actions and blue-grey eyes were narrowed at the threat Harry was obviously posing as. He noted that the teen's own wand arm was tensed, though the yew wand Harry knew he possessed had yet to be drawn.

Tom Marvolo Riddle.

 _Oh joy,_ he thought.

* * *

Harry drummed his fingers against his thigh silently, watching in anticipation as the Headmaster glanced at his test results.

"Well, Mr Rell, your placement results are all impressive. You've scored all Os except for two EEs in Ancient Runs and Arithmancy."

Harry let out the breath he was holding. The latter was disappointing but he supposed learning those electives while on the run was not probably the most conducive form of learning and retention. He had only properly understood the fundamentals then. And the year before had been spent by cramming most of the other vital aspects of the subjects to prepare for his enrollment into Hogwarts again.

No. EEs were good.

_Especially considering I did not cave and use Hermione's vast memory bank to cheat through the placement tests._

He snorted mentally. He could be considered a cheater just for repeating his fourth year exams again for another round of fifth year enrollment.

"Thank you, sir."

"Now, we are delighted to let you into our fifth year. However, I have something of importance to discuss with you. I'm afraid that I forgot to mention enrollment fees to you on the evening you arrived. It slipped my mind amidst all the work we were doing at welcoming back the students to Hogwarts. Worry not. It is not a big obstacle. We have a few scholarship programmes and funding available for those who need financial assistance during these times –"

"Money will not be a problem for me sir," Harry interjected as politely as he could.

At Dippet's raised eyebrow, Harry elaborated.

"I was left an inheritance. Found out about it last year."

"Last year?" Dippet was frowning. "I was under the impression you only recently made it to this side of the country, Mr Rell. If you had a year, why had you not enrolled earlier?"

"I did not feel comfortable enough then to join back into a school sir. Forgive my vagueness but I had my own business to settle. The goblins had also informed me that often times, a placement test is done for individuals like me who enrol midway through. Considering my previous schooling was interrupted by the war, I decided to catch back up with the syllabus within a year before enrolling to ensure I do not get lagged behind unnecessarily."

The Headmaster accepted the reply with a nod.

"I see. Well, Mr Rell, that makes your scores even more impressive. The History of Magic itself is rather astonishing. Why I believe you've set a new record for that exam, even though this was not OWLs. Delightfully astonishing!"

Harry knew why but supposed he should act ignorant.

"Why is it astonishing, sir?"

Dippet chuckled as though he was remembering a joke.

"Ah, Mr Rell, our students are brilliant in their own ways but this particular subject has not been the favourite for many in past couple of years."

Harry was about to oblige and continue his feigned curiosity when they were interrupted.

He felt the presence even before the silver-blue apparition appeared beside him.

"Professor Binns! What a pleasant surprise!" A tinge of red seemed to spread across Dippet's cheeks. Harry kept the amusement from his face as he realised just how close the man had come to confess about the dead professor's rather boring lessons within his presence.

"How may I help you?"

"Headmaster Dippet. I have grave news, I'm afraid."

Harry unintentionally zoned out momentarily as he let the Death magic surrounding the ghost wash over him. The memory of a dream he had had a year ago flitted across his mind. It had been right before he awoke to the Gringotts' hospital ward (after fainting due to magical exhaustion that arose from time travelling bloody fifty years into the past).

_"If you are in doubt, here is a clue to a path for you," a chilling voice spoke comfortingly. "You will be guided to a path that will ease your mission._

_The image of a dead who still lingered in the land of the living formed in front of him. Harry stared at the familiar face of his history Professor._

"I wish to retire, Headmaster."

Harry blinked.

_Well this is unexpected._

* * *

"What?"

He did not need to feign his emotions no longer. He was genuinely confused.

_Think! Think! Think Potter! Will this benefit you?_

"It is rather unorthodox I admit, Mr Rell but considering the circumstances –"

"You want me to be a professor? Sir I doubt I'm qualified –"

"Nonsense, Mr Rell. Your placement scores speak otherwise. Furthermore, the subject we wish you to teach is by far your most proficient subject. Why most of the professors were very much impressed by your History of Magic scores alone. Your essays were rather refreshing to read."

Binns nodded in agreement.

"You understand history in the way it should be understood. Accepted yet critiqued. You would make a great teacher for the subject."

"Sir I have not even taken my OWLs however," Harry replied.

_I do not want to sign up for this._

"If that is the case, I am willing to continue taking on the upper years, Mr Rell," Binns responded. Harry tried his best to ignore the death magic still washing over him from the ghost, singing to his own core. He could feel it's amusement at his current plight, which he was sure had nothing to do with the ghost's doing but rather a higher entity that was currently out to piss him off.

"But, I – I might not even be a good teacher. I can't guarantee that I would even want to be one in the future, I – "

"But you did say you considered that option last Saturday evening, did you not, when I asked you about aspirations?"

Harry suppressed a scowl. Well he had answered the question with the first thing that came to his mind when being questioned. What else was he supposed to reply that question with?

_Oh, I plan to somehow join Voldemort's circle, change the future and simply see to it that the entire planet does not die off within the next century sir._

"Well yes but –"

"Please Mr Rell. I assure you it will be a beneficiary experience for you. You can take this opportunity to see how it is to be a teacher. Evaluate if this job is something you could enjoy as a lifelong career. We will give you the full benefits of undertaking this job so unexpectedly. You'll be paid the full wages and granted the full responsibilities and benefits of the role. Of course, our faculty would lead you too when you need guidance."

Harry contemplated in silence.

"You only have to teach the lower years. And that too until I can hopefully find a replacement teacher. Once I am successful, we can revert you back to a full-time student, if you do not feel attached to the job."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"You would let me keep me the job, if I liked it?"

Dippet smiled.

"I'm not saying you will, not everyone finds teaching their cup of tea. But if you do indeed feel that way and _if_ you do prove to be a good teacher, it would be wrong of me to deprive my students of a good teacher. If you do wish to continue in the near future, I suppose I will simply have to split the History of Magic department to be covered by two professors for the different years."

Dippet paused and Harry took the moment to re-evaluate the man before him. His care for his students' education earned him respect in Harry's mind.

"Of course, then maybe your pay would change if there are two living professors doing the job but we'll tackle that issue if and when it arises."

Harry gave a small smile.

_Well, I did enjoy teaching the DA once. I could enjoy teaching little midgets their history and heritage too._

He recalled the first time he had learnt about his inheritance and heritage himself. It was the first time he had learnt he had more than one vault. The first time he realised the significance of being a Potter.

He had devoured the books he found in his ancestral library then, learning and relearning all the knowledge that had been kept from him. So many things had fallen to perspective. The underlying facts about the magical war that nobody had pointed out to him at all. Hermione and Ron had thrown a fit when he revealed the truth to them.

_Puppets. We had been puppets because nobody had bothered to tell us things that mattered. Nobody had taught us our history._

Harry glanced at the ghost and man who were waiting patiently for his response. He knew he could say no and they would not begrudge him.

_History of Magic. The most underrated subject, yet the subject that could potentially shape young minds, hopefully for the better._

Harry sighed. Honestly. He wished he would stop being pitted into these unforeseen circumstances. Every single time, he would make a plan and fate would intervene.

You would have thought he would be spared while he was in a different time.

"So, what is the curriculum content that must be covered for History of Magic in particular?"

* * *

Tom Riddle hid his displeasure as he was interrupted from the tomb he was perusing. It was that one special year where the weekend coincidentally followed the reopening of school on September 1st. He was planning on enjoying the luxury of Hogwarts vast library before having to be surrounded inevitably by classmates and lessons.

But that tap on his shoulder was testing him.

He turned, slipping on a smile that belied the irritation crawling under his skin.

"Yes?"

"Um, Riddle? Mr Riddle? S-Sir?"

Tom raised an eyebrow inquiringly. The stuttering girl – who had a rather annoyingly whiny voice in his opinion – was likely a third year Ravenclaw, judging from her height and tie colour. He remembered her to be one of those imbecilic fangirls who sent him tokens of love during the disgusting celebration that was Valentine's Day.

"Headmaster Dippet wishes to meet you sir."

"I see," Tom gave a charming smile. "Thank you, Miss…?"

"Warren," the girl blushed. "Myrtle Warren."

"Thank you, Miss Warren."

"It was no problem!" the girl squeaked before hurrying away.

Tom watched with rising disgust as the girl attached herself to a group of fellow Ravenclaw girls who proceeded to not-so-quietly giggle and squeal.

It reminded Tom of pigs.

The Slytherin let out a deliberately slow breath, closing the book he had been reading, a particularly fascinating read on the Dark Arts of Beginner Necromancy. He left it back at the Restricted Section, casually placing a Notice-Me-Not charm on it that would ensure it will be there when he came back for it.

Honestly. He wished sometimes he could simply blend into the tomes and ancient knowledge guarded within the library. It would be much less boring and very much less frustrating than having to associate with imbeciles. And people were rather boring.

So easy to read. So easy to manipulate.

So easy to make into his personal puppets.

Tom smiled. Ah he did still enjoy some satisfaction from the last bit.

Why the hell did Dippet need him anyways? It was barely the start of the term.

The memory of a teen with messy hair and emerald eyes that were hidden behind atrocious glasses came to the forefront of his mind.

 _Hadrian Rell_.

The new student.

Yes. That must be it. He had been told by the portraits in his favour that Rell was taking his placement tests over the weekend before lessons officially started. A gruelling day for theory and then another for practical exams.

He pitied the boy's writing arm.

Tom turned a corner, heading for the ghastly gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the Headmaster's office.

_"Who are you?"_

_The first thing Tom felt, even before the mystery teen turned was the flare in magic. Powerful magic. It spiralled out of the lean body in waves, cackling, noisy and angry._

_Then it vanished._

_He registered emerald eyes first. Obscured behind rather plain, boring glasses. But the emotions in them were rather clear to see. Distrust, anger, suspicion. So fiery but also muted. Tom had a feeling those emotions were not truly reactionary but rather simply programmed responses._

_They were too muted to be truthful._

_That intrigued him._

_Why was this stranger wary of him in particular? Why such a response to him?_

_Tom remembered each and every of his victims and associates. He would know if any of them had this much magic or this much power._

_Like their owner's magic, however, the swirling emotions vanished. In their place, a cool, stoic face greeted him politely._

_"My apologies. Did I startle you?"_

_Annoyance briefly flashed across the emerald eyes._

_"Yes but no matter. It was me who was not paying attention to the surroundings." The mysterious teen paused. "Who are you?"_

_Something about that question, in all its innocence, seemed off to Tom. It irked him however that he had no idea what it was._

_"Tom Riddle. Fifth year," he replied obliging with a charming smile. "And you are?"_

_Distrust flared again in that easy to read face._

_"Hadrian Rell," came the muttered response. "I came to take my placement tests."_

_Ah. He was one of those that came from the middle of the war._

_That explained the antagonism. A little._

_"Well, welcome to Hogwarts, then," Tom spared a glance at the surroundings. They were far from the Headmaster's office. "Do you by any chance need help to locate the Headmaster's office?"_

_He felt amusement rise at the way the teen's eyes seem to reflect pain at the prospect of asking for help._

_"Oh, I wouldn't want to trouble you, Riddle. I'm sure I could find my way," Rell started._

_"I don't mind." Tom loved the irritation he was receiving from his mystery acquaintance._

_A rigid smile greeted him back._

_"Alright then. Do lead the way."_

Tom smiled as he stared at the gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dippet's office. It had been obvious to glean that the teen had been unsettled in his presence. Whether it was just him or people in general, Tom had yet to ascertain completely.

But he was going to enjoy picking apart this new character. Like he had all the others in Hogwarts.

And he would have plenty of time to do it, would he not?

Considering that since Dippet had sent for him, it meant only one thing.

Hadrian Rell was sorted.

Into Slytherin.

Well, at least he would not have to worry that this year would be boring.

* * *

Harry _hated_ Tom Marvolo Riddle. That was all he could think of as he drowned out the incessant praising Dippet seemed to have for the future Dark Lord.

The new Slytherin played with the end of his green-and-silver tie.

He had of course, expected to be sorted into Slytherin. After living through wars, his self-preservation had been honed and perfected to a point where he breathed in thoughts of how to turn every situation into the best chance of survival.

Survival for him and his three.

And then there was the fact that if you wanted to survive in war, you had to be resourceful. It did not matter if he knew light or dark spells. He had to milk each and every one of it to the full advantage. Maximum impact and minimum backlash. That was the best way to survive.

Add in his latest time travel fiasco to change fate in itself and he had ambition in spades.

So sorting into Slytherin was not surprising.

He had anticipated what this would entail for him. A whole year he had spent, thinking of the reality he was going to be living in Hogwarts, under the house that most likely hated his blood. He had mulled over how he would react within the presence of the young Dark Lord. How to best earn his trust without betraying his own hatred.

_Well, maybe hatred is perhaps too strong a word._

Harry acquiesced to the Hermione in his head.

Yes. Hatred was perhaps too strong to describe his…antagonism.

He thought back to the pain and suffering he had undergone at the mad Voldemort's hands. The memories seemed muted and insignificant compared to the hell he had been through the past couple of years. Factor in the betrayal he had uncovered from a man he had placed most of his faith in while he had once been living, well...

Voldemort and his chaos had seemed like mere puddles of mud in the destruction zone that was his entire life.

Yes, Voldemort had been a pain in the ass in his youth. Yes, the man had contributed to some of the suffering he had undergone. But compared to the utter destruction that had followed after a year of peace from the 2nd War against You-Know-Who, Harry wished the man had never died.

Harry sighed, thinking back to the times he had first found out about the origins of Tom Riddle's campaign. He had never realized that some part of that man's campaign had been good. That the Voldemort he had seen by the time the horcruxes following the diary were simply a twisted, washed out, maniac version of the true Tom Marvolo Riddle. Nobody had told him that.

It made him angry. Some of that annoying man's original goals were important. Necessary even in the progress of wizarding world had to eventually attain, if one ignored the idiotic pureblood supremacy notions that his followers had foolishly spread.

 _Well it would have been attained had I not been used like a puppet to end his regime,_ he thought bitterly.

Then Harry remembered the mindless beast that Riddle had eventually become.

_Then again maybe not. Riddle was too far gone to help the wizarding world too..._

Harry sighed softly. In the background, he noted Dippet had yet to realise he was not listening to the man's excited rambling.

But the point of the matter was, he had long stopped hating the Dark Lord. He had learnt too much over his short life to realise that the man – or current teen – was not simply evil in all aspects. Or was not yet going to be. And for the part where he had become evil eventually, Harry was unsure if he could properly hate the man who was simply crazy beyond help, now that he knew the truth about Riddle's backgrounds and starting goals. He could hate the actions the maniac had wrecked upon the wizarding world, yes. But he couldn't hate the man himself who went deeper and deeper into madness due to the wizarding world's incompetence in reaching out to an orphaned child living alone under cruel muggles.

He would not have come back to this particular timeline after all if he still hated Riddle wholeheartedly.

Harry paused, trying to calm the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions running in his mind.

_Goodness, it was confusing to think of the future as the past…or was it the other way around?_

He shook his head slightly.

Yes, Tom Riddle was likely going to be a pain in the arse in his current reality. Yes, he still retained dislike for the man's – _teen's,_ the Hermione in is head corrected – methods. But he was going to have to deal with that if he wanted any chance to change the course of history.

Harry snorted in his mind.

_Serves me right that I end up being a history teacher._

Sudden silence had Harry tensing. Dippet had stopped his drivel. The reason became apparent a moment later when the door of the office opened and the subject of his thoughts walked in.

Riddle was as he remembered him from snippets of memories and his brief interaction with the fifth year just two days ago. Handsome with his aristocratic features and a charismatic smile. The gait of confidence and composure in him (that had followed through even after his rebirth as a snake-like Voldemort) was present as always.

He locked eyes with the youth. He saw the momentary amusement that flashed across those blue-grey eyes as the teen took in the sight of Harry in Slytherin uniform. That ever-so-innocent and charming smile on those full lips twitched upwards into a small smirk before resuming their facade.

Harry groaned internally. He could sense the teen was up to something that was likely going to work against Harry's sanity.

_This was going to be torture…_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I shld add introduce more characters before the story becomes boring, hmm?


	3. Harry meets the Slytherins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶

Being a new Slytherin made him feel distinctly like a lab right, for some reason. He had expected of course, to be scrutinised. He was a new student. But to be so blatantly stared at?

_Honestly, for Slytherins, they are not acting very discreet…_

Harry gave a thin-lipped smile.

"First time seeing a stranger?"

The question seemed to snap the assembled fifth years out of their thoughts. Harry watched in mild amusement as they averted their gazes sheepishly. He turned to Riddle to find the teen sharing his mirth, if the glint in those blue-grey eyes were any indication.

"You know, Riddle, if you turn out to be the only one who talks in this year-group, I'm afraid life would get boring really quick."

He couldn't help the jibe and seeing the brief flash of irritation in those blue-grey eyes showed him Riddle caught it too. Harry gave the teen an innocent smile just to goad him further.

"This is Hadrian Rell. He will be joining our fifth-year cohort."

Riddle it seemed chose to ignore his bait. Harry supposed that meant he would simply have to watch his back for the future. He turned around to face the rest of the Slytherins to note that Riddle's introduction seemed to be the final step to breaking the awkward silence.

_Or perhaps, it could have been a cue, who knows?_

Harry brushed the thought aside. While he would not put it past the future Dark Lord, he could read moments just fine. This moment was not a cue at all. He turned his attention to the first person who opened his mouth for a greeting.

"I'm Abraxas Malfoy." Harry had guessed the boy's last name even without the introduction. He had spent years being antagonised by that same shade of blond hair in his timeline. "Nice to meet you."

Malfoy surprisingly gave him a bright smile, which threw Harry off internally as he had not expected the pureblood's cheery disposition. He returned a brief smile and a nod to acknowledge the blonde's reply. As much as he wanted to question if Malfoy owned any peacocks, that would not probably get him into the Slytherin's good books. And considering the brightness of that smile, it seemed perhaps that Abraxas might just be very different from his future descendants.

_Or simply a very good actor…_

"Alphard Black, mate."

It was at this time that the tables filled with food. Harry was glad at the timing for it gave him a good reason to be surprised. He schooled his reactions quickly as the reason for the tan skinned teen's familiar features crashed upon him amidst everyone's activity of filling up their plates. Abraxas helpfully passed him a nearby bowl of salad when he spied Harry eyeing it after having placed a slice of Shepard's pie on his plate.

He smiled in thanks at the blonde who seemed to brighten up even more.

_Damn different from his descendants…_

"I'm a sixth year actually."

He turned his attention back to the male who had been talking to him.

"Oh?" Harry tilted his head curiously, inwardly pleased at the opportunity to stare a few seconds longer at the teen's face. His mind remembered that this was likely the very same Alphard that had financially provided for Sirius when he had been blasted off the family tapestry.

"As you can see," Alphard stated gesturing to the Slytherin table that seemed to lack the presence of many sixth and seventh years, "My batchmates and the years above lack punctuality, so I'm often stuck with this lot."

Harry's lips quirked at the mock disgusted image the older Slytherin painted at having tardy friends.

"Are you sure the truth is not that you simply love your food more than waiting for your friends?" Harry asked with a small smile, voice slightly teasing.

Alphard laughed and thankfully the action was nothing like Sirius', sparing Harry the misfortune from getting any more flashbacks.

"You caught me."

"Pleasure to meet you," Harry replied to end the conversation.

He let his eyes linger upon the young face a nanosecond longer before politely facing the person beside Alphard.

His mind however, continued replaying the image of that face, drawing up the memory of his godfather as he mapped out the similarities and differences. Deep down his heart, something gave a painful lurch and Harry had never felt gladder that he had improved his Occlumency skills before.

He may never be a master and would likely slip in moments of shock. But at least he could keep his emotions under check from unwanted eyes when necessary.

"Druella Rosier." Harry gave another nod and a smile as he took in the blonde hair and familiar features. A beat later, his mind supplied where exactly he had seen those heavy-lidded eyes.

_Bellatrix._

He had never really known who mothered the Black sisters from his time but Harry supposed it was likely this woman before him. The aloof face reminded him of a blend between Bellatrix and Andromeda, if one were to ignore the dirty blonde hair that only Narcissa had inherited.

"Soon to be Black," Alphard teased from the side, nudging the stoic female with his elbow.

Druella gave a smile full of exasperated fondness at the teen.

"Cygnus and I are only engaged, Alphard. There is still three more years at the very least before a marriage can happen. Do stop bouncing."

"Oh, but at the rate you two have been swallowing each other's faces, I wouldn't be surprised if we hear wedding bells and infant cries sooner than we expect," a soft voice interrupted the two.

Harry watched in mild amusement as Druella coloured a rather fetching shade of red as Alphard and the others snickered.

"Burga!"

The nickname almost gave Harry a heart attack.

He turned to take note of the other female present beside Druella properly.

For a brief moment, Harry had trouble connecting the youthful and smiling face of the girl before him with the beaten down, maniacal memory of a shrieking painting from the future.

"Walburga Black," the stunning female smiled at Harry and if he been a lesser person, Harry was sure he would have melted on the spot. "Unfortunate sister of that food-obsessed idiot over there–"

A muffled "Hey!" came from Alphard who was happily stuffing his face. Harry smiled inwardly at the sight.

" – and welcome to Slytherin!"

Harry gave the customary polite smile, hiding his still gibbering mind.

_What the heck happened to her in the future?_

"Thank you."

The last one at the table to introduce themselves was a boy with a rather disinterested expression. Considering he had been previously burrowed into a thick book, Harry could guess the boy was simply not impressed that he had been interrupted from his fascinating read.

"Adrian Nott," had been the curt greeting before the thin boy had gone back to his book.

Harry took a bite out of the slice of Shepard's pie he had on his plate, amused. A relatively peaceful atmosphere descended around the table, after the introductions were. The group took the moment to enjoy their food, though Nott was gracefully devouring both his food and his book simultaneously. Harry was surprised at how efficient the boy was at eating one-handed.

"He always does that by the way," Abraxas told him quietly, obviously having caught Harry's puzzled but fascinated stare. "We have a running joke that Adrian was born holding a book in his hand."

Nott paused in his reading to give Abraxas a stink eye. Harry stifled a grin.

"I see."

"So what combination are you taking, by the way?" This question came from Walburga.

"Oh, the seven-core subject plus Arithmancy, Runes and Care of Magical Creatures," Harry replied. "And I'm under the French and Mermish language electives."

"That's a heavy combination, mate," Alphard replied with a wince.

"It is?" Harry inquired curiously. "I thought I was pretty decent next to this guy." He jerked his head towards Riddle who rolled his eyes in jest.

Alphard snickered.

"True. But Riddle is an exception, honestly. He's unfortunately way too brilliant."

Harry felt Riddle's smugness even without turning around.

"If you start preening, I'll puke," he said to the Slytherin heir with a straight face.

A round of laughter went around the table as Riddle rolled his eyes again.

"So, what combination do you guys take?"

"Most of us pretty much have two out of the three electives you took," Walburga replied. "Druella, Adrian and I have COMC and Arithmancy while Abraxas and Alphard have Runes and Arithmancy. We opted out of the language electives, however. It was not compulsory, you know?"

Harry nodded.

"Yeah, but I was curious. I can always drop it anyways if I cannot cope so it was not very pressurising to add that into the combination."

He glanced around.

"So, what is it like, learning here?" he asked, playing the new student properly.

"It's pretty much the best place you could come to learn, honestly," Druella replied. "Most of the teachers, barring maybe our late Professor Binns –" snickers went around at the mention of that name, "Are all brilliant in their fields."

"Oh, and you should try out for some extra-curriculum activities if you have the time," Abraxas added casually. "It helps provide opportunities to meet students from the other houses."

Harry filed away the information, acknowledging the usefulness in it. Networking. Outside of classes, these activities were likely what got the students chances to intermingle and form connections.

_Maybe even recruit…_

"What kind of extracurricular activities exactly are offered?" he inquired. "None of the Professors mentioned any of them to me."

It was slightly untrue. Professor Merrythought had mentioned them in passing but she never got into details. Harry did not remember any such activities existing in his future timeline, unless if it were Quidditch or Professor Flitwick's choir club.

Come to think of it, he had not even known Hogwarts would have had such things. Either he was really ignorant – which was unlikely because _Hermione_ was always there to ensure he knew facts that had been kept from him or simply flew past him – or these activities were removed by the time he had been enrolled into Hogwarts the first time.

"Well, how terribly remiss of them," Druella looked affronted. "Those activities are truthfully one of the best things students can look forward to at school!"

"Probably why they were never mentioned by the Professors," Nott interjected lightly from where he was still buried in his book.

"Well," Druella continued, "There's a whole lot of clubs, truthfully speaking. The original ones, we have been told, are the drama club, choir club and magical instruments band. Very performance arts orientated honestly. Over the years, there have been more clubs introduced. Most of them, barring the initial three and a few others, are just student run now."

"There are loads more varieties to choose from now," Alphard added. "You have the Gobstones club, Chess club, they even have a language club where they learn basically the languages in the electives but without the pressure of tests and assignments. Purely just out of interest, rather than wanting to learn it to potentially use for a career."

Harry nodded. That was nice, now that he thought about it.

"Oh and of course. We have Quidditch too. It is counted under extracurricular activities too. Out of all the clubs, Quidditch and the drama club are the only ones where teachers will chase you honestly, if you have bad grades."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Quidditch takes up lots of time and naturally clashes with every semester test throughout the year," Abraxas answered the question. "And the drama club often has plays near the last semester which is right before the exams for some of the years. Therefore, the teachers require students to be strong academically for them to even allow students to continue attending those clubs yearlong or simply during exam periods."

"Ah." That made more sense that it did not. Harry did remember McGonagall threatening to kick him out of the team once when he did not buck up in his academics.

"There is often a weekend set aside to introduce the first years to the clubs during the first month back," Alphard piped in. "You can go check it out then."

Harry nodded. He glanced around absently at the familiar yet different Great Hall. Things were going to be so terribly different from his time. The realisation was funnily enough just sinking in his heart despite all his preparations.

He spared a glance at the professors' table, taking in the new faces.

"Who teaches what by the way?"

The question resulted in a surprised silence from his companions.

"Don't you know? They were at the placement tests, weren't they?" Tom asked, curious.

Harry shook his head.

"Professor Merrythought was the one who took all my tests, honestly. She monitored while I did the theory papers and assessed while I did practical for most of the subjects except for COMC and Astronomy. Runes and Arithmancy had the practical woven into the papers themselves and Herbology did not have practical as the subject's Professor was apparently only coming back to Hogwarts tonight. So technically I only know Merrythought, Professor Snowspear and Professor Pegas. Oh, and I have met Professor Binns too since he came into the Headmaster's office while I was there."

"What about Potions practical?"

"I brewed the potion and handed over the vial to Professor Merrythought," Harry replied honestly.

Most of his company frowned at that.

"That is honestly rather lazy. I'm sure Professor Slughorn could have spared a few hours to overview your potion practical," Druella stated with a sniff.

"Yes, seeing how you prepare and brew is as important as the end result," Alphard added with a frown.

Harry shrugged. He couldn't do anything else about the matter anyways.

"Oh, well, we'll point them out the Professors to you if they come down for the meal tonight," Druella took a glance around to check on the teachers' table. Harry followed her gaze and noted absently that the Great Hall was slowly filling up with more students.

"Oh, there is Professor Valerian Bitterwood. He is the one currently taking a sip from his goblet."

Harry took in the aristocratic features. The man they were referring to had a rather lean body and a rather sharp face. His hair reached the shoulders and was a deep black, though there were a few streaks of grey among them that somehow accentuated his blue-grey eyes. He seemed to have a rather unimpressed expression permanently etched into his face. But that did nothing to diminish his good looks. Harry suspected he had quite the number of fans among his students.

He hoped however, he was not going to be anything like Snape.

"He teaches Ancient Runes. He has been here for the past fifty-years," Nott surprisingly cut in. Harry raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Well he has aged _well_ ," he muttered in disbelief.

"I _know_ right."

The almost reverential response startled Harry so much that he tore his eyes from the handsome professor to stare in surprise at Nott. The swoon in that boy's voice had been hard to miss.

"Oh, and another thing you should know about darling Nott is he has an appreciation for wands," Abraxas replied amidst his snickering at Harry's surprised look.

"Wands that have good looking owners," Nott corrected nonchalantly.

Harry blinked as Alphard choked slightly on his pumpkin juice. The snickering amongst the teenagers grew.

"What?" Nott asked, finally acknowledging that Harry was staring at him with an unreadable expression. "You don't _approve_?" The word was said with a sneer, as though Nott could care less for Harry's approval.

Harry shook his head.

"No, I'm just really surprised."

"First time meeting a poof?" Alphard asked innocently.

But Harry sensed the underlying tension amongst the teenagers. It was obvious to him that Adrian Nott was, for all his current introverted displays, a very much-loved member amongst the gang he was in. And the use of the word poof, which he knew was often used as a derogatory term, was simply a test.

To test his stance.

Harry shook his head.

"Oh, please no, I've met plenty of people who are orientated towards their own sex. I've just never met someone this confident in their sexuality, honestly."

Harry spared the teachers' table another glance.

"And you have really good taste."

The tension melted away. Nott gave a sniff.

"Of course, I do. I have high standards, Rell," the tan-skinned boy drawled, though the rather confrontational tone in his voice from before had diminished.

"Good for you," Harry replied with a smile as he took a sip from his goblet.

"Well, what about you? Which side do you prefer?" Abraxas was leaning very close to him, an excited grin on his face, now that Harry had given the technically _right_ answer to one of their own. Harry was surprised at the eagerness.

This group was turning out to be really different from what he had been expecting. No talk of blood purity yet and a rather open-minded stance on sexuality.

Granted, the sexuality part was not surprising considering most witches and wizards swung both ways. It had been quite the revelation he had come across in his third year, after the Weasley twins of all people decided to enlighten Harry about the low birth rates amongst wizard kind and the history of sexuality acceptance among magicals as pregnancy potions evolved for both male and female magicals.

But then again, there was still a few more years before the group of people he was sitting with will be living in a world with male pregnancy potions…

Harry wondered if perhaps he had accidentally landed in an alternative reality, rather than back into the past. He did remember Hermione theorising that alternate realities were likely possible to exist, according to the multiverse theory.

"Do give the boy, some breathing space, Abraxas, honestly," Walburga had a teasing lilt in her voice which cut Harry from his musings.

Abraxas settled back into his seat with a tinge of pink dusting his cheeks as the others snickered.

Harry frowned, slightly confused. For some reason, he felt as if he was missing some context. The suspicion grew when the rest snickered at his puzzled expressions. Alphard had to stop himself from almost choking on his pumpkin juice from across Harry.

"What?" he asked. Abraxas grew even more pink and Alphard started to wheeze with laughter.

"Oh nothing, sweetheart," Walburga replied. "Perhaps you should simply answer Abraxas' question."

"Yeah, which gender do you prefer?" Nott was finally invested enough in the conversation that he had miraculously put down his book. For the first time since meeting the boy, he even had a slight smirk on his lips.

"Oh, I don't discriminate," Harry replied. "I like both the wand and the holster."

Alphard, did choke on his pumpkin juice this time. Harry raised an eyebrow at the boy while Druella kindly waved her wand to help clear the choking teen's airway. Abraxas meanwhile seemed extremely happy with his answer, if his smirk was any indication.

The snickering resumed as soon as Alphard was safe from potentially dying by pumpkin juice.

Harry internally sighed. He hated not knowing what was going on.

_It's probably got to do with an inside joke_ , he thought. _Or emotions._

He felt his inner disgust rise at the last thought.

Emotions. Ugh.

He hated those. Without Neville, Hermione and Luna, he no longer had any clue when it came to those things.

The casual memory of his friends, unfortunately, triggered his war memories.

Seamus' head appeared on his plate, sitting innocently near his half-finished Shepard pie slice. The vacant eyes of the thirteen-year-old stared back at him unseeingly, looking almost calm despite the blood seeping out slowly from the neck that had been cut off severely from the rest of the boy's body.

_A body that we never found…_

Suddenly, he was not hungry anymore.

"Oh look! Professor Senna Goldfinch is here!"

Harry turned to look at the teachers' table, glad for the distraction. He absently took in the honey-blonde hair and average build of the middle-aged woman. She looked rather ordinary and plain, though that opinion changed for Harry when he got a chance to see her face properly once the woman was seated. He stared at the almost milky white orbs that were set into that plain but pretty face. She could have passed for being blind. But the sheer power and confidence in those eerily milky eyes belied that notion.

"She is the Arithmancy teacher. She's relatively newer compared to the other teachers. Been here for twenty years and counting. But she's brilliant. Has a really sharp mind and is an _independent_ _woman_!"

Harry turned to stare at Walburga. She had switched places with Nott at being the fangirl this time it seemed. He tilted his head curiously, silently seeking clarification.

From his peripheral vision, he noted Seamus had disappeared, much to his relief.

"She is actually from a rather high standing family. But has yet to marry. She is not even _engaged_!" Walburga was practically gushing by now.

Harry had to keep his eyebrows from raising, noting at the back of his mind that the matter had nothing to do with sexuality this time round as understanding on why the matter was such a big deal for the teen witch crashed onto his brain. Sometimes he forgot that he was fifty years back in the past. A past where traditional roles of women and men were still followed strictly. Where women were expected to marry and contribute to the continuation of mankind, muggle or magical.

Damn it, he wanted those pregnancy potions to be invented sooner rather than later.

_Maybe I could invent them myself? I could put use of Hermione's knowledge to come up with something…_

Glancing around the table, when Walburga had gone back to stare at her idol, Harry noted that not all at the table were very accepting of this ideal, as much as they had been of the topic of sexuality. Which was rather stupid in Harry's opinion, considering breaking the norms with sexuality was rather blatantly going to interfere with the traditional male-female couple expectations.

The table was split evenly, funnily enough.

Riddle, Walburga and Nott were for feminist team, apparently while Alphard, Druella and Abraxas did not seem that much inclined to the notion.

Harry had a feeling, however, that the three against the notion seemed rather torn. Something was warring with their belief. That much was obvious. Whether it was the part in them that wanted to be supportive of their friend or some other reason was unclear to Harry.

He mentally added to his to-do-list that swaying them to Walburga's feminist team was going to be another priority. Hermione would be ashamed of him otherwise.

Harry turned to the teachers' table again, just in case his memories decided to provide him with other flashbacks and hallucinations.

"Who else have I yet to meet? There are a few more empty seats."

"Well, there is still Professor Kirrania Redwood for Herbology, Professor Justin Jollyweather for Muggle Studies, Professor Albus Dumbledore for Transfiguration and of course, Professor Slughorn for Potions who also happens to be Head of House for Slytherin," Druella listed helpfully.

"We also have Professor Aegis Hawthorn for Charms and Professor Amura Raka for Divination," Tom added.

Druella nodded.

"The elective for languages that you take is usually covered by the Professors for Astronomy, Arithmancy and Divination, but I have no idea who teaches what, to be honest."

Tom took over to supply the information again.

"Professor Goldfinch covers French and Latin. Professor Pegas teaches Mermish and Professor Raka covers Bulgarian." Tom paused for a moment. "Professor Dumbledore and Professor Bitterwood are also co-teachers for Mermish and Bulgarian respectively though they are only there for the rare cases where the original tutors are not able to take the class."

The rest of his companions gave surprised looks at that.

"Man, I didn't even know they had backups for the language electives," Alphard muttered while piling second helpings onto his plate.

The rest nodded in agreement.

Harry used the silence that had fallen over the group to mull over his thoughts quietly.

He had to admit that his expectations had been vastly shattered. He had expected more of the conversation to revolve around blood sooner or later. He supposed the topic would come off later rather than sooner in the end.

He was not disappointed. As expected, blood purity was soon brought up. However, the executor of his expectations came in the form of a new addition to the group.

"Well, well, what is this? A new Slytherin?"

Harry observed the newcomer as he took a sip from his given goblet. The taste of pumpkin juice greeted his tongue, helpfully washing down the heaviness from his pie.

Light skinned with brown hair and full lips. Eyes were a dull shade of brown with faded flecks of silver if one were to observe carefully. A very, very light smattering of freckles coated slightly chubby cheeks though they were nowhere as prominent as the ones Harry had seen on the Weasleys' from his time. The boy's face was naturally friendly-looking but there was an air of superiority in the male that Harry was used to seeing in the likes of the Lucius Malfoy from the future.

The newcomer was introduced as Aspen Avery.

"So, Rell, where exactly are you from?" Avery asked.

Harry felt the shift in mood. He could _feel_ Riddle tensing ever so slightly and his interest piqued.

_Hmm, this evening will perhaps get even more interesting_ , he thought as he wondered where this conversation could end up in.

Harry gave a shrug.

"I've been all around, to be honest."

"Oh?" Alphard, who had obviously taken a keen interest in the conversation looked up, intrigued.

"I've been on the run most of my life," Harry replied.

The others gave him questioning glances but Harry did not elaborate. He had a backstory but that did not mean he was comfortable with telling strangers about his life, even if it were a made-up life.

Technically however, his life did have some parallels to his old one, so perhaps he was somewhat justified in feeling secretive.

"Well, then what blood are you?"

"Aspen," Druella hissed. "That is rude!"

Avery shrugged.

"But important," the male insisted.

Harry felt Riddle shifting slightly beside him. Though he no longer had the soul piece in him, Harry _knew_ that this time round, Riddle's tensing was just due to annoyance. A nonchalant and innocent glance around, as he pretended to be baffled by the sudden tension in the air confirmed his suspicion.

_Well, well…how interesting…_

He thought of how to move forward in the situation. Riddle's irritation certainly threw him off. Was it because of the opinion of blood being important? Did Riddle not believe in that notion? It was possible, considering Riddle was likely once shunned during his first few years in Hogwarts for being an orphaned wizard whom everyone must have believed to be muggleborn.

An important information flitted across his mind.

_But Riddle sets the basilisk loose this year…_

Harry mentally groaned. He was going to need way much more information if he needed to figure out the current sentiments around blood purity.

"So, Rell, answer me." The tone was too demanding for Harry's taste. And considering the way most of the others at the table tensed – with the exception of Riddle who was back to his stoic self – everyone felt the same as Harry.

His narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at the teen.

_Honestly was this how Snape felt when dealing with me? But even I was never this rude unless provoked._

To his satisfaction, the pale boy quelled slightly at his unimpressed gaze. He supposed he should answer the question. It was better to confront it now than later anyway.

"Elaborate exactly what you want me to tell you?"

Avery seemed to scoff.

"Must be a mudblood then."

Harry let loose a slither of his magic onto the idiot.

"Ow! Who did that?!"

The table looked at him curiously.

"Did what?" Harry asked, face the perfect blend of annoyance and perplexity.

"Someone sent a stinging hex at me!"

Walburga scoffed from the other side of the table.

"Don't be ridiculous. I saw no spell fly at you."

"But –"

"Anyway," Alphard cut in. "Let's get back to the topic."

The older teen turned to Harry. Harry gave all his attention to the boy. Simply because he wanted to be polite of course. It had nothing to do with the bloody ache in his chest that made him want to keep thinking of Sirius.

"I'm sorry about this idiot here," Alphard said. "Not all of us are this unbecoming in this House."

Harry noted that he never denied or confirmed that the rest of them believed in the notion.

"But for your information, the blood classification he is asking for is about heritage. Whether you were born of wizarding heritage or muggle descent," Alphard took a casual bite out of his own meal. The easy-going nature of the teen had faded away to reveal a rather serious character.

Druella took part in the conversation.

"If you were born through two magicals, you are basically considered a pureblood. A magical and a muggle and you are labelled as a half-blood. Born from muggles and then you are referred as a muggleborn, though there are some _fools_ who lack decorum and use foul names out of pettiness."

The look the witch shot a now red-faced Avery was particularly scathing. Snape would have been delighted at such potential.

"What of when a child is born through the union of two muggleborns?" Harry enquired curiously.

A silence filled the table. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Well, they would still be half-bloods?"

Druella did not seem confident in her answer.

"But muggleborns are first generation magicals, are they not? And you said the definition of being pureblood is to have two magical parents?" Harry asked innocently.

The silence pervading the table was positively making his day. Or night, if one were to be technical.

"Well, yes but their _muggleborns_ ," Abraxas cut in trying to explain. Druella nodded, as did the other occupants at the table, barring Riddle, Nott and Alphard.

Harry filed away the confirmation that all of them believed in the pureblood supremacy notion at that reply, though he knew that the other three may also believe in it despite their silence.

"I don't follow," Harry replied and watched in amusement as Abraxas and the rest seemed to simultaneously deflate and squirm at failing to obviously educate him and their inability to answer his questions.

Harry decided to add to their dilemma. Honestly, it was not his fault they had such poor arguments for their cause.

"And also, really out of curiosity, what about if the parents are two half-bloods? Or if they were a pureblood and a half-blood? Or even a pureblood and a muggleborn?" Harry stared at the table. "What then?"

Alphard seemed to sigh.

"He reminds me of you. You settle him," the teen said to Riddle, sounding rather like he was pleading.

Harry turned to face Riddle.

"Oh, you are a believer of this blood categorising?"

Riddle did not reply but rather took a moment to assess him. Harry could see the boy calculating things in his mind. He knew that Riddle _knew_ that he was simply playing around with the others. He had been at the Headmaster's office to pry out news, after all.

"Well, I do believe there is merit in the belief of blood supremacy, Rell."

Harry noticed from the corner of his eyes that the table seemed relieved and pleased. Obviously, having Riddle fighting for them had them believing they won.

_Well, not if I can help it,_ he thought.

"And what would that merit be Riddle?"

Whatever that he was going to say, however, was interrupted as a school-wide announcement occurred. The voice of the Headmaster rung out throughout the castle.

"Attention students, you are expected to report to the Great Hall in in fifteen minutes. We will be having an announcement soon. I repeat, students are to report to the Great Hall in fifteen minutes."

Chattering broke out among the students already present within the Great Hall. The topic they were discussing temporarily took a backseat on all of their minds as Harry's companions pondered upon the unusual dinner announcement.

"I wonder what Dippet has to announce," Walburga asked aloud. "Did he mention anything when you went to the office?"

Riddle sent Harry a knowing smile. Harry in turn gave a bright smile.

Their companions gave them confused looks.

"Are we missing some context here?" Abraxas asked.

Harry gave a nod, cheery smile still in place.

"Yep."

Riddle chuckled.

"It has to do with him, most likely."

"What do you mean?" Alphard inquired, sending a curious glance at Harry.

"I made a poor life decision," Harry replied. "I'm practically doomed and you'll find out all about it in a while."

"That's rather overdramatic," Riddle replied.

Harry gave him deadpan stare.

"What if you were in my shoes, eh Riddle?"

Riddle seemed to pause.

"You've doomed yourself with a really poor life decision," he acquiesced, going along with Harry's exaggeration.

Harry smiled slightly.

_Children,_ he thought. _For all the wrongdoings and crimes, they would eventually do when grown up, they are still children right now._

It was true. Seated amongst these polite and mostly welcoming teens, he had to acknowledge that no matter their differences in opinions, all these magicals were still _young_. Young and mostly innocent. Most of them were sheltered and most of them had yet to make life-altering decisions.

They were _potential_ Death Eaters and Dark Lords.

But were currently _not_ Death Eaters and Dark Lords.

And if Harry had his way, he was going to ensure they were going to remain in the _not yet_ category forever. They could go on a revolution, yes. In fact, the wizarding world would probably need that.

But they were not going to become monsters to achieve an extreme cause that would lay the foundations for the magical world's doom in the future. He could not allow that.

He _would not_ allow that.

"Alright, you're making me very curious. What's going on?" Alphard asked.

"Not telling," Harry replied with a sweet smile.

The table groaned in annoyance.

"Oh, come on!"

"What's in it for me?" Harry asked. "I do rather enjoy leaving you guys in suspense."

The table turned to Riddle with hope in their eyes.

"Same condition and reason as him."

Harry smirked along with Tom.

"Great, now we have two of him," Druella muttered.

Harry and Tom rolled their eyes simultaneously, much to everyone's displeasure.

"Come on guys! Some hint?"

"No."

"Why are you guys saying everything in unison now?"

Harry shrugged.

"It just happened." He stared at the startled Tom beside him who said the same thing in surprise.

"Ok that was creepy," Abraxas muttered.

Harry took a bite out of his pie to escape the awkwardness.

"Ok let's just change topics," Walburga interjected. The table reluctantly nodded.

"Well, answer my question then," Harry turned to Tom. "What was that merit you seemed to be talking about?"

Avery rolled his eyes and Harry sensed that the boy was going to say something stupid soon.

"Oh, don't even bother replying. It will be a waste of effort. He wouldn't even have the brain to understand the glorious history of the wizarding world."

This time Harry did not retaliate immediately with his magic.

"Oh I'm sure I'll be fine since I do have a better understanding than your own puny assumption, darling, that magic is confined simply to the wizarding world," Harry replied with a patient smile.

Avery frowned.

"What?"

Harry shook his head.

"No matter. I didn't believe that you'll actually be capable of understanding that when I first said it."

From across him, Harry felt Abraxas stifle a grin.

"Let's just head back to a topic you guys seem very interested in. Blood purity."

The table of Slytherins straightened in attention at the official name of the topic. There was some who seemed clearly surprised by his use of the term, considering Harry had been using the phrase 'blood categorising' as though he were not aware of the term. Harry smiled inwardly as he saw the realisations and calculations the others were doing as they figured out he knew more than he was letting on.

He could particularly feel Riddle's amusement and interest from beside him.

"Do tell me exactly why you believe being a pureblood is important?" He turned his gaze at all those beside him. "Why any of you believe it is important?"

"We never did say we believed in it, Rell," Walburga pointed out.

"But you never did deny it either, did you?" Harry replied sweetly.

The Black cousins seated at the table smirked at the reply.

"You're good."

"No need to flatter. I'm well aware all of you are being purposefully easy to read," Harry teased.

A light chuckled followed that.

"Well, to answer your question, Rell," Riddle started. "Blood purity has merit in the sense that it is tied inadvertently with safeguarding heritage and respecting the Olde ways. It's not limited as some people believe to simple politics of marrying someone who is not of muggle ancestry but rather encompasses a whole other topic of preserving our valuable heritage and ensuring it isn't eroded away by muggle beliefs. In that sense, it is important and necessary."

Harry hummed.

"So, according to that answer, if a muggleborn were to be taught our heritage and learns to accept it, you lot would not look down on his/her union with another witch or wizard?"

A silence fell on the assembled group. Harry shook his head with a small smile.

"You don't really seem to have a solid answer for people who have strong opinions."

"Well what about you then?" Avery snapped back. "You think we should just let muggle culture erode away our heritage, mudblood?"

Harry ignored the insult for now.

"I will never condone the erasing of our heritage. But I find it stupid that you would inadvertently discriminate against your own kind to protect said heritage."

"What do you mean?" Druella asked, confused.

"Muggleborns, despite their ancestry, are still a part of the wizarding world. They have been blessed with magic. The hows and the whys aside, the fact remains that they _are_ magicals. If you want to protect magical heritage, you have to teach all magicals why they should appreciate magic and its history. Especially the muggleborns, considering they are stepping into an entire new world that they do not know about at age eleven. Leaving them fumbling about without any knowledge and then eventually discriminating against them for their blood simply invites them to cling on to their muggle heritages more. Then blaming them to be the cause for muggle culture seeping into our world is rather stupid, is it not?"

The table considered his words in silence. Avery snorted.

"Yeah, as if they would listen."

"And imagine what you would do if you were suddenly stripped of your magic and told to live in the muggle word as a muggle?" Harry asked curiously. "Will you not cling on to Samhain and Yule instead of celebrating Halloween and Christmas, considering you have no idea of what the muggle cultures are about?"

"I won't ever have that happening to me," Avery snarled.

"And that is the very reason perhaps that you are not understanding a word I'm saying. I only asked you to imagine, you know. You can't even put yourself in a hypothetical situation to realise different perspectives, Avery. That's a rather narrow mind your harboring," Harry replied with a polite smile.

"Why you –"

"Attention students, you are expected to be seated at the Great Hall in five minutes. I repeat, you are to be seated in the Great Hall in five minutes. Prefects, please do monitor your housemates."

The announcement paused the conversation between the table once more. Harry ate his pie silently as he watched his newfound acquaintances contemplate silently about what he had said. He knew none of them would change their opinions or stances anytime soon. Somethings were simply too ingrained to be changed overnight.

But seeds of logics and doubt did wonders in gradually shaking firm foundations in the long run. He had planted the seeds. He had three years to watch them grow.

Feeling someone gazing at him, he turned to meet Riddle's calculating eyes. He could see the boy analysing him. He sent the future Dark Lord a pleasant smile and simply continued his meal.

Riddle may be the easiest to convert to his side, yet. If Harry was right, the boy had yet to seal himself completely to the idea of blood purity and its extreme notions, since he had yet to discover the truth behind his birth or the chamber of secrets.

That being the case, Harry supposed he only had till Yule to steer the boy away from searching for his birth father. Or at least, keep him away from murdering tendencies when he eventually learns about Tom Riddle senior's abandonment.

Oh yes, and there was also the horcruxes.

Harry let out a silent sigh as he hid his mouth behind his goblet, feigning the act of taking a sip.

He had a lot of work cut out before him this year…


	4. Harry teaches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What the chapter title says lol  
> Also if the writing is wonky im sorry  
> im still getting back into my zone aft a long time of exams...my writing abilities has taken far too long a break  
> on that note, if there r errors in the writing i apologise
> 
> ngl author is very sleep deprived rn
> 
> ...i just realised this was supposed to be a summary not a rant box...oops?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oohh tell me what ya think of the new characterrrr :)

Harry restrained a sigh as he felt the awkward atmosphere surrounding the breakfast table. It was getting on his nerves and the fact that he was already worried over his upcoming first session with the lower years for History of Magic in an hour was not helping.

"Oh, do cut it out will you lot?" he snapped, finally done with his peers.

Tom and Adrian, the only two who were rather unbothered by most of the revelations from a week ago, perked up ever so slightly at his uncharacteristic outburst. Harry could not blame them for being intrigued. He had developed a habit of not displaying any emotions to his newest acquaintances. Seeing him annoyed, however mildly, must be a novel experience despite their (very, very) short time (read seven days) of knowing him.

"Honestly, the lot of you act like I'm going to commit an unforgivable at the lower years. We've yet to start the first lesson for the year. Save the drama for the evening at the very least? You know, after I've at least taught _one_ class and given you something to criticize and judge."

Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance at the awkward fidgeting that went around the table. Even the faculty had not been peeved much by his rather unorthodox hiring as a History of Magic professor. But it seemed the students had more than enough skepticism to make up for the older Professors' lack of judgement.

"You could have at least taken some advice from us or even from Aspen–"

Harry shot a withering glare towards Abraxas, shutting the teen up immediately.

"First of all, if any of you dimwits," Harry ignored the cries of indignation that sprung from most of the table, "Had anything of value to add, I _did_ take it into account. Though truthfully speaking there wasn't much to note as only Black and Riddle over here had anything _remotely_ useful to contribute."

Another round of protest rose up from around him and Harry shut them all up with another pointed glare. He saw from the corner of his eyes that Walburga, Adrian and Tom were the only ones quietly enjoying the whole debacle. Not surprising considering Walburga and Tom had nothing to defend and Adrian truthfully seemed to be the only one who was waiting to see how he'd fare as a Professor before making comments.

"Secondly, I didn't take this job to make mindless idiots out of the future generations, so I would very much appreciate you not suggesting ridiculous notions such as taking advice from Avery of all people, Malfoy."

Abraxas seemed to deflate a bit at the harshness in Harry's tone but the raven could not be bothered to be nice. They all deserved it for being so disruptive and judgmental over the past week. The amount of subtle suggestions (and snide comments from Avery and his two other friends) that had come his way to teach him his job had Harry almost hexing the lot of them. He had enough on his plate without the idiots adding to his stress and making life more difficult for him.

You would think the lot of them would give a mentally exhausted war survivor, who travelled back in time, some encouragement instead of pessimism, for Merlin's sake! Granted they did not know of the time travelling part but _still_.

Had none of these lot ever heard of giving someone the benefit of the doubt?! Or to simply be optimistic?

"But Hadrian darling, history is a very important subject and it is important to impart the right knowledge into the younger years. We just wish to help you ensure you do well –"

"Oh, save it Rosier, that's not what you want at all. You want to ensure the pureblood propaganda does not get corrupted since I already hinted that I did not believe in blood categorization my first night here."

A thick silence fell upon the table. Harry internally thanked his stars that the Great Hall was still fairly empty, with not many students sitting nearby the area the fifth year Slytherins were occupying. He doubted it would have done well for his already difficult task to impress his future students if they got wind of the drama cooking up around him even before he could make a good impression on them.

He took a glance at his companions. All were in shock at his bold statement. Understandable. It was one thing to hint he did not believe in pureblood supremacy. But to blatantly state he did not agree with it was a whole another thing.

Even Riddle had a peculiar expression on his face that Harry could not read.

He shook his head. He really was not in the mood for this conversation honestly.

"Merlin it's too early in the morning for this," he muttered as he took one last sip from his cup of tea. "I'm going to go collect my things and then prepare for my class."

"Wait but we haven't gotten our timetables –"

"Honestly Abraxas, I've already received mine. How else was I supposed to know when the lower years were going to have lessons with me?"

"Hadrian wait –"

Harry did not wait. He was already out the doors.

"Damn it."

"Well what were you lot expecting from him?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, giving them all an unimpressed expression. "You've kept hounding over him the past seven days over this matter you know? And you went about it as though he had already gone and taught all the wrong things to his students, whom he has _yet to meet_. Heck your attitude has added to the skepticism some of the third and fourth years already have for the HOM subject, which will not help Rell any bit by the way when he goes to teach them later. You judged him even before he did anything supposedly "wrong"."

Nott went back to his book clutched in his left arm while calmly taking a bite out of his pancakes with the help of his other hand.

"Might I remind you lot that the boy barely knows us? And more importantly, we barely know him? What right do we even have to be this vocal about his _yet to be determined_ teaching skills? This past week where all lessons were postponed to enable the faculty to adjust all timetables for Rell to teach the lower years was meant to be a week of joviality and relaxation. But you pretty much ruined that for Rell, who already had limited time to relax since he needed to figure out how to fit into this unexpected teaching career that he's being coerced into. Frankly I'm impressed Rell's kept his patience for this long without hexing the lot of you to the next month and back."

Adrian's neutral face gave way to a slight disapproving frown before the teen schooled his expression back.

"I know why you seemed so…involved and worried over the matter of Rell teaching HOM but honestly, the subject has always been a running joke due to Binns being dead. I doubt Rell would make matters worse. And as for the political aspect of the whole thing that will undoubtedly arise with him teaching…well, give him a shot first before doing anything will you? He has a different opinion, yes. But judging from the way he behaves with all of us, despite our differences in opinion, I doubt he will brainwash his students as you fear he will do. Use your brain, you dolts."

Silence descended upon the table again. Adrian casually returned his attention to his meal and book after giving that speech.

The Slytherin fifth years stewed in a mix of guilt, worry and unease as they resumed eating breakfast, quietly observing as the Great Hall gradually filled up with students. The half-empty plate between Tom and Abraxas remained a constant reminder to them that their previous companion had left without completing his meal and the guilt in them intensified.

Whatever their worries be about Hadrian Rell, they had taken their pestering and advices a bit too far it seemed.

"We messed up, didn't we?" Abraxas muttered.

"Very much," Tom affirmed mercilessly, exchanging amused glances with Adrian at the way their friends deflated further.

"I'm sure you can just apologize to Rell later. Stop worrying over the matter for now," Adrian eventually said, pitying his friends enough to give them a bit of comforting. "Eat your breakfast now instead of moping. You lot are fifteen for Merlin's sake not five."

* * *

Harry let out a breath, trying his best to calm his nerves. He took another look in the mirror, scrutinizing the custom-made robes that he was wearing. They were a dark shade of green. The colour was so dark, it almost seemed back under the dimmed lighting of the room he was in. Tiny silver embroidery could be faintly seen near the end of the sleeves and the hem. The pattern was made up of moving leaves and creatures if one observed closely. He had asked for that specifically, considering the theme he had for his first lesson.

The robes and their design were honestly not going to do much but it had been a childish good luck measure on his part. First impressions were fretted over for a reason after all, weren't they?

Harry sighed absently smoothing a creased part of his attire as his mind wandered back to the topic he was trying to forget.

His new companions.

He cursed himself inside his head.

He should not have lost his patience like he did before. He had lived through a war already. Why had he let a week of pestering from mere teenagers get to him?

He stared in pain as the reflection in the mirror before him swirled. Images of his friends flashed by in the silver surface.

_Battered. Bruised. Dead._

Harry blinked away the hallucinations for the _nth_ time, unfazed. His reflection morphed back to existence before his eyes. The ghosts of his past had been become concerningly frequent in his life that he had long stopped fretting over them.

His mind returned to his more pressing reality.

He was going to work again to assimilate himself back into the Slytherin gang, considering his week of progress was likely pushed back by his outburst.

He groaned lightly.

With a wave of his hand the raven-haired teen packed the necessary books and items he needed for the day into his bottomless bag.

The rationale part of his mind tried to soothe his irritation by pointing out the stress he had been under for the past week. Planning HOM lessons for the first till fourth years was no mild task. Add to the fact that what he taught the students and the way he (subtly) influenced the wizarding world's politics through this position as professor would have a direct consequence to the future only made it more important for him to plan it all out right. He had to take careful consideration on how much time he would have to dedicate to his future students while juggling his own schoolwork and commitments as a student.

So, the week had been stressful for him despite the rest of the school enjoying the postponing of lessons as a form of extended vacation.

Yet, his luck had seen to it that his situation would be even more frustrating in the form of meddling students.

It seemed having him – a living, breathing person with strong opinions that unfortunately clashed with pureblood notions – had snapped something within his year mates. Throughout the week, Harry had been given unsought advice (and the occasional snide comments from Avery and some others) on how to conduct a lesson on HOM.

Now, Harry was not usually averse to helpful advice. But there was a great difference, in his opinion, between advice and orders disguised poorly in the form of suggestions.

If there was one thing living through a war had taught him, it was that he hated being ordered by those who thought they were superior to him for no good reason. And a bunch of fifth years who grew up under a pureblood orientated world with no guidance to think beyond what has been preached to them fell under the category of not applicable advisors.

Frankly, he surprised himself by not hexing the lot of them off even now.

The emerald-eyed teen slung his bag over his shoulder and straightened his posture.

"Well what's done is done," he thought. "I'll figure out what to do about the fifth year gang later. Right now. I have something more important to worry over."

Harry took a last look at his reflection.

He looked well dressed for the occasion. He took in his bare face. He had yet to decide if forgoing his glasses for today was a good idea. He really did not need them, considering his eyesight was long corrected by the goblin healers a year ago but sentimentality, and a lot of homesickness (perhaps he should say timesickness), had him clinging on to them.

"I look way too intimidating…"

This was the downside of learning to keep a blank face he supposed.

Harry sighed, running solutions for how to solve his dilemma of not scaring away the first years on sight. He could smile certainly but Harry was not willing to maintain that expression for a whole 120 minutes lesson. Besides, smiling had to come naturally and he had very little things that truly made him smile.

"Goodness I sound depressing for someone alive and well," he muttered under his breath.

The memory of an adorable and unique blonde witch flitted across his mind. Harry paused. A small, sad smile graced his lips.

Of course it had to be Luna that would give him the perfect solution. Somewhat strange but a perfectly usable solution. Harry could feel the Hermione in his head sigh in exasperation at what he was going to do.

He ignored her. Rationality only worked so much for him.

With a small hum, he summoned his wand and casually stuck it behind his ear. He watched in amusement as despite the formality in his reflection, the intimidating air he naturally gave off diminished significantly. He certainly felt no different but appearance wise, there was a touch of silliness and approachability to him, what with his wand casually sticking out from his right ear.

Harry chuckled. This was going to be so embarrassing but oh well.

"Minky," he called out.

A pop filled the air and a Hogwarts house elf stood in front of Harry. The elf took in his appearance and gave a short bow. Harry let the action slide for today. At least the creatures had long stopped outright grovelling at the sight of him (though he had yet to figure out _why_ ).

"What does Professor Harry wish from Minky?"

Harry smiled, happy at the fact that the elf had finally quit calling him Master Hadrian. That still made him uncomfortable till this day.

"Well, I was hoping you could pop me into my classroom."

Harry did not need the Hermione in his head to tell him how bad it would go for him to walk the hallways with his wand sticking out his ear. Yes he was going to let the first years see it – for hopefully five minutes into the lesson and no more so as to clear any fear and trepidation in the air. But to let the whole school see him?

Harry remembered well what his dear Luna had underwent at Hogwarts initially for being quirky. He could well deal with such things aimed his way but the path of least resistance was better as of right now. He already had much to deal with without needing to address idiotic bullying.

"Is this because of the wand you have stuck in your ear, Professor Harry?" Minky asked, blinking her luminous eyes at him in concern. "Are you sure you want to leave it there?"

Harry suppressed a smile at the question. Minky rather reminded him of Hermione. The elf had a rather no-nonsense air around her most of the time that Harry wondered if she was indeed the Hermione amongst the elves. He was very tempted to gift the house elf a book to see how she would react. Of all the elves, Minky was the most prim and proper, from her attire to her speaking style. He had yet to figure out if that was just a side effect of working in a school.

"Well, I plan to have it taken off five minutes into the lesson, don't worry. For now, it'll ensure the younger ones don't get scared off at sight," Harry told the smart elf.

Minky gave him a look that spoke she was doubting his idea. Harry gave a mock sniff.

"Come on Minky darling. It's a perfectly fine idea. If I take it off, I'm going to scare the poor things off with my stoic face."

Harry well remembered that was how Snape had come off to most of the students with his blank face and don't-mess-with-me aura. Granted the man's terrible personality also added to whole matter but still.

"Well, if _you_ think it's for the best, Professor Rell," Minky replied with a neutral face.

Harry suppressed an suppressed smile at the implied message that if anything went wrong, it was his fault.

"Alright Minky. Ready to drop me off at the other side of the castle?"

The elf simply nodded before snapping her fingers. And with a pop, both elf and wizard vanished into thin air.

* * *

Harry smiled in triumphant at seeing the relaxed and excited atmosphere in the classroom. He sent a smug grin to the rationale part of his brain as he took in the eager faces of the children seated in front of him. Part of him was extremely touched. He knew exactly what kind of reputation the HOM classes had due to Binns' rather dry and dead (no pun intended) lessons. And the first years were always given detailed heads up about the situation to the point that most did not bother even giving the first lesson any real chance.

That was why seeing the crowd of yellow and blue before him looking up at him expectantly was rather touching. They were eager to learn.

Harry let a small smile grace his lips, watching in amusement as the little tension some of the Puffs at the back had retained melted away at the sight of some positive emotion on his face. In some ways, he was thankful that his first lesson with the first year batch started with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. These two houses were easier to impress.

The Hufflepuffs valued dedicated and fair teachers and the Ravenclaws automatically gave respect to any teach that knew his subject well and could deliver lessons well.

If he did well with them, some ice and tension would naturally break amongst the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses even before he met them. And that would be a welcome thing as Harry already knew how difficult having a class with those two houses was going to be.

Granted the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin had yet to reach a peak with Riddle still being young and not yet a Dark Lord who recruited green-tied students, but it was still there.

"Well good morning to all of you. My name is Hadrian Rell. I will be your Professor for History of Magic for the foreseeable future."

Harry plucked off the wand he had stowed away behind his ear. He watched as the students – mostly Ravenclaws – sit up straighter at the action. He could see some of the slight skepticism that was lingering in the Ravens disappear along with his silly image.

Harry smiled internally. Well he supposed the wand behind the ear appearance did have some drawbacks.

"Now before we start off the lesson proper, I'd like to do two things. First rollcall."

Harry flicked his wand and a parchment appeared out of thin air to float beside him. He grinned at the awe that most of the first years had at the simple act of magic. Even those who grew up in the wizarding world brightened up at the display.

With another flick of his wand, he ticked off the names on his list as he attached a face to the names he called out on the parchment.

"Alright then. I'm glad to see that everyone is present for the first day of class. You lot have to pardon me if I forget your names for the first few lessons. Remembering new names is unfortunately not my strongest point."

A few giggles went around the classroom and Harry smiled slightly again at how easy it was to interact with eleven-year olds. He missed the way his students perked up at the sight of another smile on his face as he turned around to place the class attendance onto his desk.

"Now, onto the second thing," he said as he turned around. "Ground rules."

The class quietened down and Harry internally nodded in approval at the way they were well behaved.

"I personally don't like to nag but your education is not a matter that can be joked around with. So I expect all of you to take your lessons here with me seriously. Throw out all the rumors and opinions that have been fed to about the History of Magic subject. I can assure you, this class will not be an opportunity for you to nap. And if you do do that, you'll be promptly kicked out and I won't let you in for the rest of the day."

Harry wondered if he should have returned the wand back to his ear. The way all the Puffs and Ravens were sitting up ramrod straight could not be natural.

"So, rule number one, don't slack in my class in any way or form. This does not mean behaving well while in class alone. It includes attendance and coming to class on time. If you are going to be late, you better have a valid reason."

Harry flicked his wand once more. He watched in amusement as all the students jumped slightly at the sight of a green file and a leather bound notebook appearing on each of their desks.

"Rule number two. I expect you to keep up with the class and my lessons at all times. I'm aware that all of you have different learning speeds and styles. I will do my best to teach in the most efficient manner but if you feel left behind despite that, you must take the responsibility to come look for me for consultations. This file is going to your subject file for our lessons. This is going to be a helpful way for you to keep track of what goes on in this class. Whatever parchment notes, marked assignments and other HOM related academic matters you will be given is expected to be filed here. I will have file checks over the year so don't leave this for the very last minute. The notebook is for the notes you will be expected to take down during lesson time. It's charmed to be never ending so all your notes should be in this. Keep in mind that these lessons are not going to be repeated unless we have time for revision and they are going to be relevant for your future lessons over the years. So do not lose your notes. Do I make myself clear?"

Harry smiled at the "Yes Professor" that rang simultaneously across the room.

"Rule number three. I want all of you to listen up well for this one."

Harry took the time to let his gaze pass each and every one of his students, taking note of how they reacted.

"History of Magic is going to be a subject that can cause conflicts in opinions. We will tackle those conflicts as they come along together but I need everyone here to be open minded and respectful about each other's opinions and point of views. There is no clear cut right or wrong answer here. There are only different perspectives and how such perspectives bring a different truth to every story."

Harry noted the way certain students bristled at the message. He did not need an introduction of their family history to guess that these were the pureblood children. He hoped they were not completely brainwashed.

"I repeat. I need all of you to be open minded and respectful about each other's opinions. I don't expect you to agree with someone else about something you don't believe in. But I do expect you to be respectful them for their right to have a different opinion. I won't tolerate foolish fights. Is that clear?"

He did not mean to make his voice sound menacing but judging from the slight shivers running down some of their spines, Harry surmised he failed at the job.

Harry sighed softly.

"Well fortunately for you guys, that's the end of the ground rules."

Harry chuckled at the relief that washed over every face before him.

"Oh, come on, I was not that bad." Harry rolled his eyes. "Anyways. Keep your files for now. We will only be needing your notebooks. And that too will be for a short while."

Harry raised an eyebrow as he watched a timid looking boy lift up his hand to ask a question.

"Yes Mr Rockwood?"

He softened slightly at the way the child brightened up at being remembered.

"How about our textbooks sir?"

Harry made a face at the reminder of the textbook. A round of laughter rang about the class.

"Oh, we do not need that thing. Honestly, if I had a choice, I'd tell you lot to have never bought it. No offence to the author but that was the driest and most boring book I've read. It only covered goblin rebellions and most of what it wrote was rubbish."

Harry smiled at the fresh wave of giggles his answer elicited.

"Thank you for asking Mr Rockwood but for today's lesson we won't yet be tackling that monstrosity of a textbook. Instead, I've got a little hand on planned for you guys, since it's your first lesson. We'll be doing that at the second half of the lesson."

Harry smiled at the way the entire class perked up.

"Now, let's start off our lesson proper. History of Magic."

Harry flicked his wand and the subject he was teaching appeared in bold letters on the chalk board behind him.

"There are two keywords I want to unpack in this. Who can tell me which is which? It's rather easy."

A flurry of movement interrupted the otherwise silent classroom as all the students raced to raise their hands first.

"Well Miss Bones," Harry turned to the young Ravenclaw, noting the traditional blue eyes and honey blonde hair that reminded him of a strong and brave Hufflepuff from the future. He forced him Occlumency shields up to ensure the more despairing memories attached to the child's future descendant will not come up. He did not need an episode in the middle of his class. "Care to share the first keyword?"

"History, Professor."

"Thank you very much. Take three points to Hufflepuff."

Harry waved his wand and the mentioned word was underlined on the board.

"Let's unpack this first before moving onto the next keyword. Don't need to raise your hands for this part. Just throw what you think out. What does history mean in your opinion? What is made up of?"

Harry flicked his wand as the class gradually started to throw words at him. By the end of five minutes, there were words such as "past", "wars", "heritage", "dates and numbers" and other similar ideas on the board.

"Alright, that's enough for now. I want you to jot this down in your notebooks."

Harry paused as he waited for his students to grab a quill and get ready.

"All of your answers are correct in one way or another. History is indeed about the past. In relation to this class, especially, we can define history to be _a study of the past_. And in it includes events and people of different walks of life.

Now I want you all to take note of this. We can never be sure of what the past is really about. Therefore, when studying about the past, you must always be skeptical. That is, you must always question what you are told. Since this is the past we are talking about, we often have no means to verify what truthfully happened. Events that we are going to learn about are essentially a story put together by observations, analysis and even speculations. So there is bound to always be matters that are not always clear cut. Which is why I reiterate, keep an open mind during our lessons. There is never truly a right or wrong answer or opinion. Is everyone following?"

Harry continued on as he heard a collective "Yes, Professor".

"Alright. Now you can raise your hand to give me the second obvious keyword."

Harry smiled at the sight of a redheaded boy at the back who had his hand raised as soon as he started speaking.

"Yes, Mr Mc– oh dear," Harry squinted his eyes at the boy trying to remember his name. The class giggled as Harry muttered about having a goldfish memory when it came to names.

"It's Mc–"

"No I want to guess!" Harry cut in, ignoring the new wave of laughter that came at this half-stressed and half-earnest expression. "Um…McClain?"

The redhead smiled brightly and nodded.

"Yes sir."

"Oh, thank Merlin. If you said no it would have been embarrassing." Harry rolled his eyes at the sill giggling class. "Ok, quit laughing at me already you little brats."

The class blatantly ignored his order, sensing the lack of bite and affectionate tone in his voice. Harry sighed. It was only the first lesson and he was being soft. Damn it.

"Mr McClain. Care to answer and end my suffering?"

"Yes sir," the brat replied cheekily. "Magic is the second keyword."

"Thank you. Three points to Ravenclaw."

The word got underlined on the board.

"Again, what comes to mind when you think of Magic? What is it? What does it refer to?"

This time round, the responses came quicker.

Harry held up a hand to stop the influx of answers at then end of a minute.

"Ok, ok that's enough. Let's see, a lot of you have a wide variety of answer when it comes to magic. There is a list of magical creatures here. Some of you think its spells and potions. Some think it's a tool – that's a really interesting perspective. Ooh and we have energy and deity as answers too. My, all of you are smart. Why must I teach you again?"

The class laughed at his question.

"Ok time to jot down in your notebooks again."

Harry leaned against his desk, watching the class as everyone diligently started to write down what he was saying. Oh, how he wished this would happen later for his other classes too. But even he knew, expecting that would be too optimistic.

"Magic is really something very abstract to define. You guys are right in the examples you've given on the board. Magic is many things. Creatures that you listed are indeed magic. They are made up of magic and are part of the magical world. Spells and potions are also magic for they need magic to work and essentially give back by helping the magical world function."

Harry settled himself comfortably on the top of his desk and crossed his legs.

"Now coming to the point of magic being a form of energy and a tool. Now that is a more common identification amongst magicals when it comes to defining what exactly magic is. It is commonly agreed that magic is a form of natural energy. The spells and potions and other charms that we use and invent in the magical world very much require energy to make them work. But it is a very unique kind of energy that not everyone on this earth is blessed with. That is why we have a clear differentiation between beings that have magic and being that do not have it in our planet. We'll explore the whys and hows behind this divide in future classes.

Next, magic being a tool. This is also accurate but it is an _implied_ definition. Though common, this definition is more hidden and not widely spoken about in the magical community. But since this is a classroom, we will be speaking about it. The energy, which is the magic that is inside us and inside the nature surrounding us, is a tool that magicals wield and make use of to live and prosper."

Harry paused as he watched a brunette girl at the front of the class raise her hand.

"Yes, Miss…Holly?"

"Yes sir, that is my name."

"Yes!" Harry cried in triumphant, evoking giggles from his students. "Well, Miss Holly, what is your question?"

"Why is this second definition not spoken much about, Professor?"

Harry smiled at the question.

"Good question, Miss Holly. Can anyone here answer this?"

Silence met Harry's question.

"Now come one. Give it a guess at the very least. If you've grown up in the wizarding world, you might have an inkling as to why."

A tan-skinned boy dressed in the Raven's uniform raised his hand hesitantly.

"Yes Mr Prewett, wasn't it?"

The boy nodded.

"Yes sir. It's because we respect magic."

"Yes, that would be correct. Take three points to Ravenclaw, Mr Prewett."

Harry could see the confusion amongst the children new to the wizarding world.

"Now let me explain. Magic is indeed a useful thing. Inadvertently, most magicals use it to survive and progress in the magical world. However, the reason why it is not refereed to as a "tool" despite everyone agreeing that magic is used in one way or another, is because to simply dismiss this energy as a means to an end is viewed to be an ungrateful way to live. This is because magic is not something that everyone is blessed with. Like I've already mentioned, magic is divided in this world. Despite it being abundant in nature, only some get it. Some simply do not.

This phenomenon has raised a view that magic – as I mentioned – is a _blessing_. A gift of fortune and fate. Therefore, people expect you to cherish the magic you have. Don't dismiss it as a mere means to an end because that is disrespectful."

"Have I answered your question, Miss Holly?"

The girl have a hesitant nod.

"I know it still seems confusing but we'll get there. Bear with me."

"Now let's come to the trickiest definition. Deities."

Harry raised an eyebrow at the expectant yet tensed silence that came with his words.

"Alright, how many of you were raised in the non-magical world or grew up with little or no magical knowledge and connections."

Almost half the class raised their hands and they were spread somewhat evenly between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Harry noted that Holly was part of the group.

"Ok thank you. How many of you in this group believe in religions from the non-magical world?"

A quarter of the hands remained. Harry was not surprised. Most magicals tended to not believe in the muggle versions of religion after being introduced to a form of energy and power that they can see in front of them.

"Ok thank you. You may put your hands downs. Now I would like to put it out there that what we are going to discuss has religion-like qualities. So don't get confused for this next part as a preaching sessions please. This is merely for all of your educational purposes. Again, there is no right or wrong matter so if you do not agree with certain perspectives being shared in this class, don't fret over it."

Harry hopped off his desk.

"Now, the link to deities. Let's make it clear to the ones new to magical world. Magic in our wizarding world is not simultaneous to devils and the like. Now I'll be honest. The world of magic is filled with a lot of stuff – for a lack of a better description. Things like ghosts and demons and fairies are not mere myths here. They exist and you can meet them. Matters such as giving magical blessings or getting possessed are also real. But that does not mean magic is something that is associated with evil. We do not work for demons by nature. And even the definition of demons, is actually a bit varied from what muggles define demons as. Correct me if I'm wrong but demons are referred to as beings that are inherently evil and dangerous in the non-magical world, yes?"

Nods answered his question.

"Well in the magical world, demons are more associated to creatures and beings that come from a universe that runs parallel to our plane of existence. In short terms, they are our neighbours. And while yes, they are capable of being dangerous, demons are not inherently tied to being evil. They are simply seen as a power ally or foe depending on situation. And despite magical advances, the interactions between demons and our plane of existence is limited, at least to the average magical person.

But let's get back to our main point. Deities. Now the belief that magic is a form of deity is actually rather complicated. You see, one thing about magic, is that is it unpredictable."

Harry gave the silent class a stare.

"I hope you jotted that down. I'll repeat. Magic is unpredictable."

The rustling of parchments signalled that the class was doing as told.

"Right. And the thing about this is that there have many instances where magic acts as if it has its own mind. A clear case of this is accidental magic. I think all of you will be familiar with that. That was how you are identified to be witch or wizard when you are younger. Through your bouts of accidental magic. Magic is inadvertently something that needs to be controlled to make it usable in a sense. That's why you have magical education. However the interesting thing about accidental magic, is that no one teaches a toddler to do it. It happens naturally as the _magic_ responds to its owners' emotions. There have been some who debated the children do control it since they are somewhat aware of magic's existence while growing up. However, what is the flaw in this argument?"

Harry looked at his class.

Holly raised her hand.

"Miss Holly?"

"Magical children from the non-magical world do not know about their magic."

"Correct. And that's why accidental magic is used to argue for the point that magic has a mind of its own. The magic in the children do not react from a clear intention or order in the cases of accidental magic. It reacts in an instinctive survival mode to guard its owner and it also acts in the way it best sees fit. And that makes it unpredictable and if not controlled, dangerous."

Harry waned his wand to add more examples on the board.

"Now these are some more examples you can go read by yourself to delve into the topic because if I spend all lessons talking about this, we won't have time to do other stuff. I do encourage you to read up. It's very interesting and you get a deeper understanding for the way magic works.

Coming back to the main point, such cases of magic being able to think on its own and act on its own has therefore shown to the magical world that there is some form of awareness in the energy that is magic. It's not always there, which is why people are still confused over its nature. But in cases where it is deliberately called upon, there has been many evidences that points to magic acting like an entity that can think and act. A lot of times in old history, especially, magic has even been used to dish out justice, with rather harsh punishments following because magic seems to be an energy that is rather noble and strict.

Add to this whole debate, is the fact that magic and nature for some reason has an undeniable connection. Throughout magical history, people have noted that magical surges and other phenomena is inadvertently tied to nature – be it in the form of creatures, plants, earth or even people.

So with all these factors, there are some who view magic to be something more than just a natural energy but a rather a form of deity. Now the initial view in the magical community about this "deity" was indeed a more religious form. They believed that this energy is something that must be constantly worshipped and made offerings to. I repeat again that I'm not trying to preach anything here, but more informing you.

Now over time, this view on magic has _changed_. Majority of the wizarding world still do see magic as a higher form of power that is mysterious and powerful beyond mortal on this plane. However, they view this deity now as more of an entity that exists and that simply is. It is a power that is as natural as the Sun and the Moon. It can come in the form of a woman, man or creature or nothing. It simply exists and is one with nature. They believe that magic is does not necessarily need to be worshipped in a religious aspect where you pray and offer it matters regularly. They don't see it as an entity that needs to be pleased and appeased. Rather, they believe it is nature's more spiritual form and is something to be celebrated and cherished. Again, whether this is seen as a form of religion is debatable. To the magicals who live in the magical world, it's not something they debate over much but rather simply accept as a part of life. The fact that magic exists and is known to only those lucky enough to have it is enough for everyone to agree that magic is indeed a mysterious energy that must be appreciated and protected."

Harry took in the engrossed faces of his students and smiled.

"That being said, most of the wizarding world do actually give offerings and the like occasionally to Magic. But like I mentioned, this rituals and offerings comes off more as a celebration and acts of gratitude for blessing the magical world with the knowledge about magic rather than an actual offering for god or goddesses.

Fun fact however, is that the religions that do exist in some cultures today in the non-magical world, do have some connections to the practices and beliefs from the magical world. This came about due to the fact that a long, long, long time ago, the magical world and non-magical world were not hidden from each other."

Harry waved his wand once more, writing down reference books for the class to note.

"You can go read it if you are interested."

He smiled as he watched the muggleborns in particular take down the references with open curiosity. That was a promising sign that they had not completely rejected the sharing he was giving. Keeping an open mind and inquisitive mind like they are right now would go a long way for them to eventually integrate into the magical world that would more or less be a huge part of their lives for the future.

"Now, it is good to note, that this notion of celebrating and cherishing the magic we have been blessed with also adds to the whole respect and admiration the magical community have for magic. This ties back to your first question Miss Holly, on why magic is not outspokenly referred to as a mere "tool". Because it is viewed to be something that is to be valued and cherished. Is everyone following? Anything at this point you wish to clarify or add to or question?"

At the shake of the heads and "No sir" that rang through the room, Harry continued on.

"Alright then. Let's get back to definition of Magic in relation to our History of Magic class. I wish I could say we're eliminating some definitions but we are not.

In our class, Magic is going to be referring to all these things that we discussed. In short, the entirety of magic, from the people to the creatures to the energy itself, is what we are going to study about. So when I say magic, what it refers to can be different in every class depending on the context. So if at any point anyone is confused, please ask. Clear? Good."

Harry walked up to the board and erased everything except for the subject name.

"Now, to conclude this introductory with a summary: History of Magic is essentially the study of Magic's past, with magic, as I've mentioned, referring to the entirety of what makes up the magical world. We'll be looking into the different civilisations that exist in the magical world, the key historical events in Magic's history that have influenced directly or indirectly at how the magical world functions today. This will involve looking into the characteristics and stereotypes even that exist in today's current magical world, so be prepared and don't get all offended at me when I'm toeing dangerous waters. Clear? I hope you all wrote that down."

When the last student put down their quill, Harry returned his wand to the back of his right ear and clapped his hands once.

"Great! Now that all that jargon is out of the way, who here would like to have a practical introduction to a part of magical history?"

* * *

"This is rather weird, you know?" Walburga commented casually to her friends as they entered the History of Magic classroom.

Being the early ones to arrive, the group of five had the luxury to choose seats according to their preference and they made their way to the left of the room, where large glass windows provided plenty of sunlight and a cool breeze that could help keep them awake throughout the dry lesson they were going to sit through.

Tom Riddle, to no one's surprise was seated near the back end of the class. Despite being studious, even the Slytherin fifth year prefect had long accepted that the History of Magic class taught by the dead Professor Binns was a subject that was better studied alone. Tom preferred to sit behind and do his own assignments, considering he was way ahead of the syllabus with his self-directed learning.

Abraxas seated himself beside Tom out of habit, while Walburga and Druella found their seat closer to the front. Adrian sat himself in front of Tom's seat, casually depositing his bag onto the seat beside him in a clear signal to discourage anyone from sitting beside him.

"What is weird Burga?" Adrian asked, once he had settled comfortably into his seat.

"Well, the fact that Rell is not with us for some classes. I mean, we have yet to share a class with him but I already find his absence during Charms disconcerting," Walburga replied, twisting herself to face the boys seated at the back.

Druella, who mirrored her position, hummed in agreement.

"Yes. I admit that despite it being only a week, I have gotten used to Rell's presence easily."

"I'm not surprised. The lot of you spent the entire week telling him how to do his job. You're bound to get used to his presence at that rate," Adrian replied.

Abraxas groaned.

"Oh, we get it that we messed up, Adrian. No need to keep reminding us," the Malfoy heir grumbled.

"Well I wouldn't – Wait what's going on there?"

The others looks at Adrian for clarification, only to find the boy distracted by something outside. Naturally, they each turned to look at what got the reserved boy intrigued.

"Are those house elves?" Tom asked, spotting the group of three elves near the edge of the grounds where the Black Lake was closest to the Forbidden Forest's edge."

"Yes. Yes they are. What are they doing on the grounds? They usually keep themselves hidden while doing their work…" Walburga murmured out loud.

"It looks like they are drawing something. A ritual circle perhaps?" Abraxas suggested.

"Why?" Druella asked in confusion.

No one in the room got the chance to respond as more students entered the empty classroom. Not that any of them could have given an answer to that question either way.

Soon Binns entered and with the start of the class, the peculiar sight of House elves drawing runes was put to the back of their minds. The lesson went on as expected from a period of History of Magic. Most students were half asleep, with the only activity coming from the occasional skirmishes a few of the Gryffindors tried to start with a couple of Slytherins.

The routine lasted until halfway through the lesson, someone else noticed the house elves outside and brought attention to the matter.

"Merlin, is that _Rell_ on the ground with the first year and – and house elves?!" Avery exclaimed.

Even Binns paused at the mention of Hadrian Rell's name. Every eye in the room turned towards the windows to behold the sight outside where a raven-haired teen stood by the edge of the Black Lake, surrounded by a group of first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Three house elves stood nearby, watching the group closely. Nobody could discern what exactly the fifth year Professor was doing with the first years, considering the teen had his back turned to them. But judging from the occasional movement of his shoulders, indicating the boy was gesturing at things, he was clearly talking to the students.

"Oh, Hadrian's conducting his first lesson," Binns commented casually in his ever-monotonous voice.

The class stared at the ghost in confusion.

"Isn't he supposed to teach History of Magic? What's he doing on the grounds?" a Gryffindor boy asked from the other side of the room.

"Great, the idiot doesn't even know what his subject is," Avery muttered loudly for the class to hear. "I wonder if they have been wandering from place to place in the castle instead of actually learning something?"

Snickers broke out amongst the class at the teen's comment.

"That will be ten points from each of you who laughed for disrespecting a Professor."

Silence descended upon the class at Binns' unexpected cold tone. Nobody complained at the deduction in point, too shocked at the face of a usually unbothered Professor becoming annoyed.

"And twenty point from you Mr Avery for being so blatantly rude. Has nobody taught you to say nothing if you've got nothing nice to say?"

Avery blinked in surprise; mouth still agape.

"And as to answer your question, Mr Potter," Binns sent a brief glance towards the Gryffindor before returning his gaze towards the grounds, "Hadrian is indeed teaching History of Magic. This is his introductory lesson for the first years into the subject I believe. He had sent in a physical aspect in the lesson plan. I suspect this is where he is going to do it."

"Physical aspect for History of Magic?" Potter whispered in incredulity and many shared his sentiment.

Binns opened his mouth to answer but before the dead Professor could reply, another Abraxas cut in.

"Oh look, they are moving."

The class' attention returned to the grounds outside. The first years were starting form a circle and Hadrian moved forward to stand in the middle before turning around.

"Oh."

The exclamation came from Adrian. It was soft but the entire class heard it in the pin drop silence that had descended upon the watching fifth years at finally getting a good look at the newest student in Hogwarts.

Suffice to say everyone was rather surprised. For the past week that they had known the teen, nobody had expected that the baggy, comfy clothes he wore hid a lithe body. Had they not already known that it was indeed Hadrian who was conducting the lesson, many would not have recognised the figure standing in well-tailored clothes to be the same teen who lounged lazily in the Slytherin common room.

It was not a mind-boggling discovery. It was not like they suddenly saw the teen to be extremely attractive – after all they could not even make out his face clearly from the distance. But something about the way Hadrian's stood tall and confident on the grounds was appealing to watch. The teen looked somewhat like a warrior, for someone simply teaching a class of first years.

Then Hadrian waved his hand and his appearance became the last thing on his audience's minds as they watched a bright flare of magic burst forth from his wand. The magic flew into the ground lighting up runes and swirling outwards to surround the spectating first years and three house elves who had been included into the circle. It pulsed in position for a few moments and then in matter of seconds the magic intensified.

* * *

"Alright you guys listen up."

Harry smiled as he watched the first years surrounding him quieten down.

"Alright remember, this ritual is going to show you the magic that resides in pretty much everything around us. Remember, the belief is that magic is a part of nature? This ritual is historically important because it fuelled a rather solid evidence that drives the belief in many magicals that magic is in tune with nature till this day.

When the ritual is successful, you'll get to be able to the magic that is dormant in your surroundings for a brief period of time. From the blades of grass at your feet to the very air in front of you and even your fellow classmates, will light up to show the magic contained within. So, don't panic if you light up, ok?"

He received nods around.

"Alright then. Let's get to it."

Harry closed his eyes briefly, gathering the magic inside his core. Then he waved his wand and let out a stream of pure magic, aiming it to the runes below him. He watched in delight as the magic surged out in spirals, encompassing his group of students and house elves with joy.

"Ooh your magic feels _happy_ Professor. How is that even possible?"

Harry smiled.

"Magic is capable of many things, Mr Prewett. Who ever said it cannot show emotions?" Harry replied.

"Oh, whoa look at the grass!"

Harry turned to see one of his Hufflepuffs – Rupert Brown, Harry recalled – pointing at the grass in awe. He could not blame the child. The grass below – once a plain shade of light green – was now a deep shade of emerald with bronze light running through its blade where veins once were.

"Forget that, look at yourself!"

The entire class then started to notice the fact that each and every one of them were glowing lightly. Harry examined his own hand. Just like the first time he had done this ritual, he was glowing a soft golden colour and the magic in his veins thrummed a multitude of colours, with silver being the most prominent. However, unlike the last time, the silver was accompanied by a deep shade of black that was not there before. Harry stared at it, wondering what it referred to in him.

Gasps of wonder and awe travelled around the group, pulling Harry out of his thoughts.

"Professor Rell, why are we all different colours?"

Harry turned to the curious muggleborn who had voiced the question. She was from the Ravens' House.

 _Martha Carpenter,_ Harry's mind supplied.

"Well Miss Carpenter, the answer to that is mostly speculation. Nobody really knows. But people like to believe it is because every person is different and unique, their magic's colours differ to reflect that uniqueness. However, there are studies that have confirmed that people with compatible magic – which merely states that your magic's personality can merge well enough for you to perform joint spells and rituals – often have similar shades within their magic's colours. Take a look around. All of you here are compatible in at least one way."

He chuckled at the excited chatter that broke out as the students mingled to find similar colours amongst them.

Harry cleared his throat a few minutes later to draw the children's attention back to him.

"Now I know you all are excited but you're going to miss out our guests if you don't start looking around properly."

He watched in amusement as the first years faces showed confusion before realisation dawned on them as they turned to take in the assembled audience surrounding them.

"Holy magic!"

* * *

" _HOLY MAGIC!_ "

Abraxas was not the only one to share the sentiment.

"Are you guys seeing this? This is nuts! Their glowing! They're all glowing! Even the giant squid is _glowing_!"

Nobody could bring themselves to answer Abraxas as they all stood watching the sight before them in awe.

In a good 100-metre radius surrounding Hadrian Rell, everything was lit up in different shades of magic. From the grass to the very air, magic shimmered in shades of the rainbow. The true brilliance however, came from the Black Lake. Where on land, the wild magic's visibility was restricted by the rune circle, the ritual magic that touched the lake's water spread throughout the water body.

And where there was once a Black Lake, the waters now turned crystal clear in response to show off the magical world that existed under its surface. Gillyweeds and other aquatic plants shined a beautiful shade of turquoise while the fish and other magical marine creatures within sparkled in other multitude of colours. The resident Giant Squid too was shimmering in a magnificent shade of purple, with the droplets of water that clung to its head (which was above the surface) looking like beads that decorated its body.

But nothing beat the merfolks.

Though usually beastly and mundane looking, with their magic made visible, the beings looked ethereal despite their animalistic features. Their shimmering hair put a rainbow to shame with the sheer number of colours that was blended and interwoven in every strand. Their skins – usually a sickly green colour to land dwellers – now had more normal skin colours, though unlike normal skin, these too glowed with an otherworldly beauty. And every one of their different coloured tails glistened under the awakened magic's light as though they were made of gems.

Some of them had long abandoned the lake's bottom to greet the first years above the surface.

"Oh Merlin. They look so beautiful," a girl breathed.

"How is this a History of Magic lesson again?"

Eyes reluctantly turned away from the spectacular scene below to look at Binns expectantly.

"Well, that ritual is used to showcase the wild magic that exists in everything around us. It is historically significant ritual. You should know about it."

"It was the crucial ritual that proved to magicals that magic was innately art of nature. Magic was nature. Nature is magic," Tom spoke up for the first time in the class.

"Correct."

"How come we never got to do that ritual?" There was a bitter tone in whoever muttered that out loud from the back.

"Well, us Professors are usually not granted permission, Miss Balustrade, when it comes to doing such rituals, unless we teach Ancient Runes. Even then, rituals are minimal and rare."

"Well Rell is doing it right now! How did he get permission?"

"He didn't."

The entire class blinked in surprise and turned back to Binns in shock.

"What? Abraxas seemed to choke on the question.

"I think the exact words Hadrian said when his lesson plan did not get through due to someone in the faculty objecting it was: _'Well I don't give a shit, I'm going to teach my students what they need to know no matter what this old goat says. It's not like I'm going to harm the students or anything.'_ "

Binns turned back to the scene outside after saying that.

"I didn't really believe him initially when he said that but perhaps, I should start giving his guts more credit. That boy certainly does not say anything without meaning it."

The entire class stared at Binns in disbelief.

"Won't he get in trouble?" Tom eventually asked, the curiosity obvious in his voice. "I am certain we are not the only class watching what he is very indiscreetly doing."

It was true. Almost every window in the castle that was facing the Black Lake had students and Professors alike crowding to watch the show Hadrian was putting up. Tom had a distinct suspicion the teen purposely avoided using obscurity charms around the area to spite whoever in the faculty who had refused to let him go through with his (truthfully alright) lesson plan.

"Oh I doubt it. The most he could get would be a lecturing. They cannot honestly fire the boy now can they?"

"They can't?" Potter asked in confusion. "Why not?"

"Well, they won't have anybody to teach History of Magic for the younger years if they do, will they?"

"What about you?" Avery asked in confusion.

"I won't be doing the job. Heck if I could have my way, I'd made Hadrian teach all the way up to seventh year and retire early but the boy refused. ' _I came here to get educated Professor, not do the educating.'_ "

The class blinked again in shock.

"Did he just mimic Rell?" Abraxas muttered next to Tom.

"Certainly, seems like it," Adrian replied quietly from in front of him.

"Anyways, if you lot are done gawking, it is time to get back to our lesson. I'm sure Hadrian will be doing a repeat performance near late afternoon with the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years. You can watch then."

Groans erupted around the class as the fifth year Slytherins and Gryffindors alike deflated at having to resume the boring lesson they had with Binns. The dead professor paid no attention to the class like always and continued his lecture as though he had never been interrupted in the first place.

"Man, I wish we got Rell as Professor instead," someone muttered from the back of the class.

Though nobody replied, the sentiment was shared amongst every individual in the room.

* * *

Harry tilted his head in confusion as he arrived at the classroom where his Charms lesson was meant to be. He turned back to see that the corridor that he been walking in had mysteriously disappeared.

"What the?!"

The teen blinked.

"I could have sworn I was in the first floor a few seconds ago…" he muttered under his breath.

The raven-haired boy shrugged and walked into the empty classroom. Taking in the desks that were arranged by pairs, he walked towards the other end of the class room and seated himself near the tables located by the windows. Humming to himself, Harry took out his Charms textbook and absently read through the first chapter again.

Less than a minute later, he heard the sound of the door opening but the tingle that he felt shooting through his left ring finger distracted him from paying attention to his surrounding. Harry stilled, forgetting about his yet-to-seen companion as he stared at the ring on his left arm that had suddenly blinked into visibility. The band of silver twinkled under the sunlight streaming through the windows for a second. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it returned to its invisible state once more.

Memories of a witch with light blonde hair that tumbled past her waist flitted across his mind.

Harry frowned, pushing away the mixed emotions of happiness and sadness that overwhelmed him under Occlumency barriers. He frowned, trying to understand what happened to cause the bizarre acting up of his ring and its magic.

It had never done this before unless L–

"Hello."

Harry jumped and looked up to lock his gaze with a pair of serene silver eyes.

"May I sit here?"

Harry blinked. He tore his eyes away from the painfully familiar eyes to take in the extremely curly blonde hair that framed their face. They were a shade darker than the ones he remembered and tumbled only till the newcomer's shoulders. But the familiarity of the stranger's face and feature still made Harry's heart's jump.

"Hello?"

A pale hand waved in front of his face, snapping Harry out of his thoughts.

"Noodles," Harry stated.

"What?"

He looked back to stare into silver eyes that were now crinkled in confusion.

"I'm calling you Noodles." Harry turned away from the male. "And yes. You may sit here if you want."

Harry fumbled with his robes. He had changed into the Slytherin uniform as soon as his teaching session was over. The baggy robes brought a sense of comfort to him.

He watched from the corner of his eyes as Lovegood – _oh he was sure this one was a Lovegood_ – started assembling his things onto the table. When one of the teen's quills rolled towards the edge of the table, Harry moved by instinct to catch it.

His fingers closed around the slender handle of the writing instrument the same time the other male's fingers reached the quill.

Their hands brushed.

_"Not Harry! Please not Harry! Take me instead!"_

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

_"You freak!"_

_"There's only power and those too weak to seek it Potter!"_

_"Sirius is gone, isn't he?"_

_"Crucio!"_

_"You abominations don't deserve to live!"_

_"You are a curse!"_

_"I'm scared Luna. I've lived my whole life an orphan. I don't want to die as one too."_

_"Guys where is Teddy? Guys?! Answer me!"_

_"No! No! Nooooo!"_

_"Only one is destined to make it through."_

Harry tore his hand away from the teen beside him. The quill he was holding clattered onto the ground.

"You – You're a," he swallowed. "You're like Luna."

Harry licked his suddenly dry lips. He didn't know what to think. On one hand, he wanted to be relieved at having someone who understood him. Who knew _exactly_ who he was. A seer of Luna's caliber could do that. At the same time, he didn't know if he wanted such a level of understanding with someone who was not one of _his three_.

This male was a Lovegood but he was not _Luna, Hermione or Neville._

"I'd beg to differ. I don't really believe in warding off nargles with butterbeer cork necklaces."

Harry turned around to stare at the male beside him again.

"The name's Polaris Lovegood, Harry Potter. Would you grant me the pleasure of being your friend?"

Harry stared at the silver eyes he had grown used to seeing from another timeline.

 _No, these are not entirely the same as Little Moon's eyes,_ he thought.

There were flecks of gold amongst the male's irises where Luna's had contained a light shade of blue.

Yet, the honesty and sincerity he was accustomed to seeing in his little Moon's eyes were mirrored in her ancestor's gaze. Harry relaxed despite himself.

"The pleasure is all mine Noodles," he replied to blonde wizard, giving the teen a small smile. "The pleasure is all mine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gyaaa I love Polarissssss   
> Im honestly using him the second time now in one of my HP fanfics but I love himmmmm  
> He's such a Polar bear in my mindddddd  
> Sorry I'm just fangirling over my made up character but still-   
> haizzz  
> Read, Review & Kudos if u can please   
> Stay safe everyone


	5. Harry's first day draws to a close

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't come for me if there are errors. I can't bring myself to reread this chapter anymore. I just can't. I've read it too many times. If there are errors...well...sorry? I tried...  
> I've finally posted at least. 
> 
> Enjoy! And stay safe!

~

* * *

Polaris was rather similar yet very, very different to Luna, was what Harry concluded by the end of Charms lesson.

He was same in that he certainly had the serene Lovegood seer smile. That smile that indicated he knew more than you did, but the indication was so subtle that unless you looked for it, it would just come off as a serene smile that seemed a bit off.

Yet unlike Luna’s smile, Polaris’ smile had a slightly small quirk on its right, making it tether on the line between a grin and a smirk rather peculiarly. But it suited the blonde wizard just fine.

And it suited the teasing personality Polaris had.

Oh yes. Very much so.

Harry wasn’t going to lie. Luna had been a bold person. She was a witch that though polite and kind, knew what she wanted and was never afraid to speak her mind. But she was reserved when it came to her relationships with people. She liked cuddles and kisses but you only got those from the eccentric blonde after a certain trust and rapport had been built, be it as lovers or as just friends. And even then, when amongst others, she would shy away from showing intimate affections for all to see.

But Polaris was not the same. He was bold yes. But without the reservations that held back Luna when it came to strangers. The curly haired wizard, who had become fast friends with Harry, had given him about plenty of teasing nudges, four spontaneous one shoulder hugs and had even proceeded to tangle his left leg with Harry’s right under the table discreetly. At one-point Polaris had very much leaned in very, very close to Harry’s personal bubble that Harry had been unable to stop the pink dusting his cheeks at the action. It was rather intimate, in his defence.

Polaris had mercifully leaned away from him after observing his flustered self, that teasing smile back on his lips.

Harry had avoided eye contact with the boy after that for the rest of the class, thanking his lucky stars that neither the Professor or other students had noticed the moment. Except for perhaps Abraxas and Riddle who were seated right behind him and had been boring holes into his head since class started. (Harry supposed they were still perhaps angry at him for the way he left the Great Hall).

In short, Polaris Lovegood seemed like a koala bear with how much he liked to cling onto the person beside him. Only unlike koala bears, Polaris was way more excitable and very much more animated. (Honestly, the serene smile Polaris threw at people was _very, very misleading_ about his personality.) Harry had wondered if he had nicknamed the boy too soon. But every time he turned to look at the pale skinned wizard and witnessed that mess of blonde curls framing his face, he discarded the urge to _not_ call him Noodles.

The boy was very much going to remain Noodles in his books.

Thankfully, Charms lesson was covering the banishing charm. Harry knew that (and a lot of other things let’s be honest) already. So even though he was pretty much distracted by his new friend’s antics, he had managed to banish the first of the many buttons he had been given on his first try. His button did go a bit overboard but thankfully the magical barriers created in front and behind of each desk had prevented it from sailing over and smacking the Ravenclaw in front of him. Professor Hawthorn, who had strangely been watching him (Harry supposed it was because he was the new student) had awarded him five points. That had resulted in the feeling of someone drilling holes from behind him for Harry and also simultaneously resulted in the rest of the class giving him surprised looks, as though realising he was there with them for the first time.

It had taken him a moment to realise that it was likely because he had achieved the spell before Riddle could. Which must not be a norm.

Harry cursed himself in the head.

 _But there is no point in hiding it if you already know things_ , the Hermione in his head pointed out.

Harry gave a discreet sigh. It was true, he knew. Most of the teachers already knew that he was advanced for his age, even with Harry seriously keeping a lot of the knowledge he knew to himself.

 _Besides, perhaps intriguing Riddle would enable me to get closer to him more_ , he thought.

Polaris gave him a gentle nudge from where their legs were still tangled under their desks discreetly. The touch grounded him from his spiralling thought and he sent the boy a grateful look.

“Alright class,” Professor Hawthorn called out. “Time’s up for learning the banishing charm. We’re going to move to learning non-verbal spell casting.”

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. That had been sixth year material in his time. He supposed the syllabus had changed.

“Let me remind you lot who probably didn’t listen the first time,” Professor Hawthorn shot the look to a particular set of black-haired fraternal twins on the other side of the classroom.

The two – one a witch, the other a wizard – gave him cheeky smiles.

“And for the sake of our newest student,” Hawthorn continued.

Harry kept a blank face as eyes swiveled over to him again before returning to the Professor.

“This isn’t tested for OWLs but that doesn’t mean you get to slack off it. If you want to be able to get this by the start of sixth year, well then start working _now_.”

Harry bit his lip.

Now the question was, do he show his ability to silently cast or not.

Harry stilled as he felt Professor Hawthorn eye him with a contemplative look while in the middle of his lecture on non-verbal casting. The memory of his practical duel with Merrythought during his placement tests suddenly floated into his mind.

_“You can cast non-verbal spells?” Merrythought asked after she regained her breath._

_She had a rather contemplative look on her face. Harry nodded from where he was still leaning against the one desk in the classroom that had somehow remained undamaged._

_“Kind of a necessary skill while you’re in the middle of a fight,” he told her, making up an excuse on the spot, wincing as every breath caused him pain. He had a succinct feeling Merrythought had managed to break a bone in his ribcage._

_He hadn’t meant to reveal his ability to cast nonverbally. But as Galatea had picked up the duel’s difficulty, old habits had kicked in and he had forgotten that he was in the middle of an exam and not a battlefield._

_He grimaced as he took in the bruised and battered form of his future Defence teacher. He sincerely hoped she wasn’t the kind to hold grudges because Harry had given her as much, if not perhaps worse, as she had given him during the duel._

_Merrythought smiled at him, all teeth. Harry felt dread rising in him at her look._

_“Well, you certainly will be a pleasure to teach, Hadrian Rell.”_

_Harry blinked._

_Well, at least she doesn’t seem to hate me, he thought weakly._

Harry groaned internally. How did he forget _that_?

Galatea Merrythought already knew of his capability. Which meant she had likely told the others what to expect.

He was doomed.

No way he could pretend he couldn’t spell cast silently now.

Polaris leaned into him slightly more.

“Hiding will do you no good Hadrian _Rell_ ,” the Lovegood heir murmured quietly for only him to hear.

Harry stilled.

He didn’t know if the wizard was referring to his current dilemma or something else, considering the emphasis on his name.

“Both,” Polaris added calmly, as though he could read his mind.

Harry let out a sigh.

Well, the boy probably could for all he knew. Harry wouldn’t be surprised. While Luna never had been able to do Legilimency, she did have a knack for just _knowing_ what Harry was thinking. Who was to say Polaris couldn’t?

He frowned suddenly.

He needed to stop comparing Polaris to Luna. They were two different people.

“I don’t mind you know,” Polaris’ voice came floating through to him in a soft whisper, lost to others under Hawthorn’s loud, bass voice that was still giving them a lecture.

Harry didn’t verbally respond but wrote a reply on the margins of his notes.

_But it’s still wrong of me to do that. You two are different people, despite being related. Besides, I’d rather not like you for being Luna, Noodles. I’d rather learn to like you for being Polaris._

Polaris gave him that Lovegood smile again, his eyes gleaming in amusement.

_Sometimes, the things we think are wrong can be right, Harry Potter. But only sometimes. Some rare times._

Harry frowned at the response Polaris had written back but shrugged it off when it became clear he wasn’t going to understand it anytime soon. He erased the reply and his own words with a small tap of his wand. Then he vanished the extra buttons that was between Polaris and him and returned to listen Hawthorn spout things he already knew.

He felt the silent gaze drilling into him from behind intensify and knew that Riddle especially, seated behind him on the right and in full view of his right profile and wand arm had seen him cast that vanishing spell.

His _silent_ vanishing spell.

Harry felt Polaris smile beside him and he sighed internally.

 _If this all screws me over in the end, I’m blaming you_ , Harry thought in his head, hoping the blonde beside him could understand what he was thinking.

Judging from the way he caught Polaris’ smile widen from his peripheral vision, he thought the Lovegood heir did.

* * *

Harry gave his groupmates an awkward smile as they struggled with their spells, twiddling nervously with his robe sleeves. Hawthorn had thought it would help if everyone worked in groups to figure out silent casting. So, the professor had split them off in a random grouping of three.

Harry was stuck with a witch named Morgana Carpenter and – thankfully – Polaris.

From across the room, Abraxas was occasionally sending him looks, that strangely didn’t seem angry but rather disappointed. Harry was confused. He didn’t know what caused _that_ response from the Malfoy heir. Last time he had checked, he thought the Slytherin group were likely miffed at him for the way he left them during breakfast.

He supposed Abraxas could be disappointed with him for the way he left the group angrily?

Harry shrugged.

Or just disappointed because the group he was currently in had a muggleborn.

Harry frowned at his sleeves.

If that was the case, he was disappointed with Malfoy.

With a silent sigh, Harry discarded all his thoughts, turning away to face his groupmates and the wall. He was better off focusing on his group now than thinking of the Slytherins.

He looked at Polaris. The blonde seemed to be doing fine. Occasionally stopping in his spell casting to pause and reflect. Harry thought he even saw Polaris’ feather quiver ever so slightly.

Yep. Noodles was doing fine in his opinion.

Besides, he had already conversed softly with him while Hawthorn was splitting up groups. The boy had all the tips already. He would come to ask him more questions if he needed.

He turned to the witch beside him, catching her blowing away her auburn hair in frustration as she gave a deadpan stare at her feather.

She, on the other hand, was obviously not doing well.

“Um – do you need some help?” he asked the girl.

He received a surprised look in return.

“Me?” the girl asked, disbelief spelled across her face.

“Yes, you,” Harry replied with a confused look.

The girl stared warily at him for a moment before some realisation seemed to cross her face.

“Um,” her voice had distinctly become softer.

Harry leaned in instinctively to listen better.

“I’m muggleborn, if you hadn’t realised,” she uttered softly.

Harry missed Polaris pausing beside him slightly as he stared at the witch before him with a confused frown. Said witch seemed to suddenly give him a blank, defiant stare when she noted his frown after finally looking up from where she had been gazing at the floor.

“I’m aware of that fact, you know?” Harry told her, keeping his voice equally soft. He didn’t know why she had started to whisper but he wasn’t going to break whatever privacy she obviously wanted. “I mean I just taught your sister before this class and the resemblance between her and you are hard to miss.”

Harry tilted his head.

“Though she does not have auburn hair like you.”

He absently wondered which of the Carpenter parents had the auburn hair while which had the blonde.

Morgana Carpenter meanwhile blinked up at him confusedly and Harry raised an eyebrow curiously.

“What?” he asked.

He was really starting to wonder what was wrong with the witch. All he had done was ask if she needed help and she was telling him about her muggleborn status as though that would change his offer – _OH._

Harry internally smacked himself.

“Oh, um, if you were wondering about all that blood status thing, I don’t really care,” he told her, voice still soft. “Sorry, I just kind of got why you were telling me you’re a muggleborn.”

Harry gave a sheepish smile. Polaris chuckled beside him.

“Come on Morgy,” the Lovegood heir said, voice a soft murmur. “Harry’s ok. Stop gawking.”

Morgana blushed and averted her eyes from Harry.

“Sorry. It’s usually, the Slytherins I pair up with either are outrightly rude like Avery or have this subtle sense of disdain which is rather uncomfortable,” the girl explained, voice still a soft whisper. “And it’s always linked to my blood.”

She obviously didn’t want the other Slytherins hearing that.

Harry gave a small smile.

“It’s ok. I don’t buy into those stuff.”

He gestured at her feather.

“So, about that help?” he asked in a normal voice.

Morgana gave him a small smile.

“I’d appreciate it. I’m going bonkers here.”

“You must want to lift your feather,” Harry told his frustrated companion again.

“I _know_. I am very much wanting my feather to lift,” Morgana replied.

Harry hummed.

“Well, maybe we should discuss what exactly you’re thinking of then as you try to lift your feather?”

“I’m sort of silent screaming the spell in my head,” Morgana confessed.

“Well, that isn’t what you’re meant to be thinking for your spell to work in silent casting,” Harry replied.

The group behind Harry, consisting of Druella, Riddle and a Ravenclaw, had been listening in on the conversation going on. At Harry’s last comment, they stilled and turned to focus on the boy more.

“Why not? Professor Hawthorn did mention that inadvertently you think of the charm in your head as you try and will it silently.”

Harry gave a wave of his hand that said that was a ‘there-and-there’ explanation.

“What Professor Hawthorn means in that sentence when he mentions charm, is different from what you’re thinking about as a charm,” Harry replied. “Charm isn’t just the incantation.”

He gave the witch a prompting look. She complied with answering.

“Well, a charm refers to a spell category that essentially animates and adds properties to an object or individual. It ultimately focuses on changing what the object does.”

“Correct. But there are many Charm spells out there. Matter of fact that there a many spells out there in any category. The definitions aside, how any spell is differentiated from another is through their wand movements, incantations and the end result that you ultimately intend and therefore will to happen through your magic. Observe.”

Harry verbally spoke out the incantation of the levitation charm as he did a clean swish-and-flick motion with his wand that was pointed at Morgana’s feather. It rose.

He cancelled the charm and then redid the whole thing silently, letting Polaris and Morgana see his floating wand.

“What’s the very obvious thing that is missing between the two things I just did?”

Unbeknownst to Harry or Morgana, about half the class was already listening in on his words while the others were being slowly signalled to by their neighbouring groups.

“The incantation,” Polaris replied with a serene smile. “You still have our wand motions and you’re still clearly have the end result you’ve intended to have.”

The Lovegood heir, unlike his two groupmates had observed the class’ interest into his groupmate’s lecture but rather thought it wasn’t something to be brought up yet.

“Yes. Now something to think about here is, does this mean the incantation is useless?” he asked. “That having an incantation there or not, doesn’t really matter?”

Morgana frowned.

“Well, the fact that the charm can be achieved without the incantation spoken aloud shows that the incantation isn’t necessary. But, well. We needed it before this stage to help us direct our magic to cast the spell.”

Morgana’s eyes lit up.

“Is that it? Directing our magic. We learnt back in first year that incantations are vital in helping us direct magic, since they are in Latin and that’s historically referred to as the language of magic. So, if we are not using the words to help us direct it anymore, we are going to be internally directing the magic in us to balance out the work the incantation had previously put in?”

Harry gave a bright grin.

“Correct.”

“Does this mean I have to will my magic more? Is that what you meant by what I think matters more now? I must focus more on the intent behind what I want to achieve?” Morgana asked with a thoughtful look.

“Yes and no. The directing of our magic does overlap with the intent category.”

“Overlap?” Polaris questioned. “It isn’t the same?”

Harry shook his head.

“Nope. While willing your magic to do something inadvertently directs it, what the incantation does more is reach out to the magic in your core, link it with your intent and essentially enable you to carry out your spells through the wand which acts as a focus. This works, because Latin, as one of the languages of magic itself, can speak – for a lack of better words – with your inner magic. Therefore, without the incantation…?”

“We’re going to have to learn to reach out to our core by ourselves,” Martha finished.

Polaris sighed.

“Joy. This is going to take some time then.”

Harry snorted.

“Yes, but the wonderful thing is, once it clicks and you make a better connection with your magic, everything becomes easier.”

“By the way,” Morgana started.

Harry turned to give her his attention.

“What did you mean by Latin is _one_ of the languages of magic?”

“Oh that. Well, there are other languages that work like Latin in being able to reach out and direct magic seamlessly. And they are universally accepted to be languages of magic. Sanskrit and Ancient Greek is one of them for examples. Even parseltongue that Salazar Slytherin is known for was said to be one such languages.”

Polaris gave a surprised look.

“Parseltongue? The language of snakes?”

Harry nodded.

“You won’t find it in the approved modern books nowadays since Parseltongue is genuinely a more family inherited gift and you can’t use it if you want to universally share whatever spell you create unless everyone could suddenly use the gift. But it still doesn’t erase the fact that historically it is proven that the people with the gift are able to direct magic well with its help.”

Harry tilted his head, fiddling with his wand, unaware of neither the entire class that were now actively listening in on his mini lecture nor how Professor Hawthorn was watching him with an amused smile.

“But the thing is, these kinds of languages are only needed to share a spell with others and to do rune-related magics like warding that needs to capture and store magic from the environment. Once you technically learn to connect with your core, language doesn’t matter anymore.”

Polaris frowned.

“What do you mean exactly?”

“I mean,” Harry replied. “That you can literally say light instead of Lumos and still get the desire effect if you know how to control your magic to give you what you want. You can even say something entirely different from what you want and still get your desired effect. It’s essentially silent casting something but coupled with completely unrelated verbal words that can distract the person in front of you. It helps if you want to catch someone by surprise for a prank or,” Harry grimaced, wondering if he perhaps he had spoken too much. “Say if you were in a pickle and needed whatever advantage you can get to escape.”

Morgana tilted her head.

“So you’re saying I could say _Incendio_ and shoot water from my wand instead if I had good control of my magic, because I’d override the effects of saying the incantation?”

Harry shook his head.

“Oh no, you’re not overriding the incantation’s effects at all.”

“Why not?” Polaris asked when he didn’t elaborate.

“Well, I said your intending something while spouting something entirely different for that last bit. Plus, you must remember, most incantations are like the specific key to a specific lock, not a one key fits all matter.”

Both Morgana and Polaris understood what he meant within a few beats.

“You mean the incantation doesn’t even work in those distraction situations because the wand movements are not reflecting the same intent.”

Harry nodded with a smile.

“It’s honestly a distraction tactic. If you’re against someone who can read wand movements well however, it probably might not work,” Harry said.

He frowned.

“Also, it’s important to note that this is dangerous if you’re not very sure about spell combinations,” Harry gave the two of his group a sharp glare, making sure they took his words seriously, unaware of others in the class who stiffened under his sharp look. “There are those rare incantations that can either fit more than one particular combinations of wand movements or just cause some reaction with some parts of a wand movements set. So, you can potentially blow up or set things on fire or something worse if you’re not careful.”

Polaris, to his surprise, sent Morgana a cheeky smirk.

“Sounds like that warning is especially made for you Morgy.”

Morgana blushed and Harry tilted his head curiously.

“She’s had a history of blowing things up during first year because of mispronunciation.”

Harry hid a smile behind his hand while Morgana coloured a deeper shade of red in mortification.

“How about we move on?” she asked with a glare to an unrepentant Polaris.

Harry took pity on the embarrassed girl.

“Yes, we should. We’ve digressed a bit. And all that’s not really relevant for what you want to do right now, plus _extremely dangerous if you don’t plan beforehand_ ,” he emphasised before going back to the point. “Anyways just try to consciously direct your magic to do your intent right now, as you try to charm your feather.”

Harry watched, with the rest of the class, as Morgana bit her lip and focussed onto her feather. Unlike the previous times, her feather twitched and slid to the right ever so slightly.

Morgana gave him a bright smile and Harry returned a soft smile in response before turning to Polaris with an expectant look.

The blonde boy rolled his eyes but obediently gave a his own feather another shot.

Polaris’ feather quivered and rose up a millimetre before dropping down again.

“Wow I felt the effort it took to do that clearly,” the boy muttered under his breath.

Harry chuckled.

“It gets better, really.”

“Thanks Hadrian!” Morgana chirped at him.

“No problem. You can try to murmur softly a few times before steadily lowering the volume of your incantation if you get stuck again,” he told his two groupmates. “A friend of mine did that back home when she had problems silent casting. She said that when she focussed properly while doing the spell with an incantation, it gave her a feel on how her magic was being drawn out and directed, which helped her magic later when she tried silent casting.”

Morgana gave him a thumbs up at that and went back to focus on her feather.

Harry went back to playing with his given feather once he was sure Morgana was doing fine on her own. He lazily made the thing twirl about in a random dance as his thoughts drifted to his frizzy haired best friend that had yet to be born. It had been her who had done that murmur then mute tactic. And Hermione had inadvertently been the first one in their group to silent cast successfully, brilliant as she was to adapting and figuring out how to do things. Harry had been a close second, getting the hang of the ability an hour after her. Harry let his feather spin lazily for about five times as he lost himself further in his thoughts, missing the thoughtful looks the rest of the class gave him as they went back to attempting their own silent casting and met with relatively more success than before his lecture.

* * *

Back at the front of the class, Aegis Hawthorn grinned silently to himself from his desk area. He watched as his current fifth year Slytherin-Ravenclaw class showed the highest rate of success in moving their feather even slightly than other batches he had taught over the years. This was the most success he had seen from his students for their first lesson on spell casting.

He internally commended one Hadrian Rell. Hawthorn himself had never thought of linking back the silent casting ability to the basics of the incantations to make students understand why willing and directing their magic was so important. For him and the other teachers, who basically have had spent years on their Masteries, such information became rather instinctive and he had thus genuinely forgotten to point it out to the students. Instead, he and his colleagues, drilled more on the hows that would help get students to eventually master how to silent cast spells, forgetting to point out the obvious but vital _why_ that enables all the different strategies they spout. Forgetting that understanding such a simple and inherent reason behind it all was integral in helping students get a good grasp on their magic.

It was a fault. An honest mistake on his part yet still a grave one, in his opinion.

He would have to bring it up during the next meeting in the Headmaster’s presence, which was scheduled for the coming Friday evening. But he had a feeling he would be informing the others of the matter during the small breaks the teachers spent at the teachers’ lounge during most evenings. And he would need to thank and compliment Hadrian personally too.

But in the meantime –

“Ten points to Slytherin,” Hawthorn murmured under his breath, gaze flickering over to the reserved Slytherin addition at the back of the class.

Albus had been rather worried by the way the boy had obviously gone and broken rules when teaching HOM in the morning to the first years, muttering worriedly about safety and other things. Hawthorn had been equally worried about the safety aspect but after witnessing the boy’s words and actions a few minutes back, he thought that perhaps he could have faith that the boy knew exactly what he was doing.

Maybe even better than him and his colleagues if it came to it, Hawthorn would admit. The way the child seemed to know facts rather did prove why he was currently the youngest teacher – History of Magic teacher at that – in Hogwarts.

 _Well, we can sure expect many things henceforth from you,_ Hawthorn thought as his eyes strayed to his new student again. _Great and likely chaotic things._

* * *

Harry was very much amused as a humming Polaris dragged him around the hallway. The boy had very much given him the puppy eyes and Harry had obligingly helped pack the silly idiot’s things along with his own stuff with a flick of his wand seconds before the bell had rung, enabling them both to leave quickly once class was dismissed.

He distinctly heard Abraxas’ voice calling out to him but had only managed to turn and lock gazes with a frantic looking Malfoy heir. As he raised his free hand midway to acknowledge the teen, Polaris had very much pulled him aggressively out of the doorway, much to the amusement of the other people watching. His “Wait Noodles” had effectively been ignored as the blonde had then progressed to dragging him off.

Which led to them currently roaming the hallways redundantly.

Harry frowned as he saw a rather familiar girls toilet come into view when they took another corner and realised with a start that Polaris had not been leading him off to the Great Hall as expected.

“Noodles? Why are we here?” He asked warily.

“ _I’ve been tasked to remind_.”

Harry stiffened at the eerie voice his companion was using. He cast a quick look around them before dragging Polaris into the second floor’s girls’ toilet. A flick of his wand determined that nobody else was with them in the toilet. Harry closed the main door and cast privacy wards around it, ensuring no one else would come in later.

Then he turned to stare into his friend’s vacant eyes.

“Come again?” he asked with a pinched expression.

 _“I’ve been tasked to remind, Harry Potter: It doesn’t do you good to hide,”_ Polaris spoke, voice still eery as he swayed to an unknown breeze, voice still eery. _“Your time is limited, Harry Potter. Use it wisely.”_

Harry stiffened. Nobody had mentioned that during the ritual.

_“There are rules even fate cannot bend. Pay better heed to the callings and answer. Do not try to escape that which is inevitable.”_

Harry frowned. Callings? He hadn’t heard any callings from anyone or anything. And he hadn’t tried to escape anything that was inevitable. What was inevitable anyways –

Harry stilled.

Right. How could he forget that? That meant only one thing for his current context.

 _Ugh, I don’t want to do this,_ he thought with an internal pout. _Why am I always in this kind of situation?_

His thoughts were put to a pause however when his companion groaned before him. Harry moved instinctively to catch Polaris before he fell, used to doing the same for Luna. What he hadn’t accounted for was the boy to be heavier than his petite descendent, so inadvertently, he stumbled lightly with Polaris’ weight, resulting in the both of them tumbling into the wall.

Harry smacked himself internally as he and Polaris crashed lightly onto the wall, with the Lovegood heir in particular sandwiched between him and said wall. The blonde boy, though being taller than Harry in reality, suddenly only reached up to Harry’s chin as the tumbling had left him squashed against the wall in a bend. Polaris, who had regained his senses from his sudden, weird Seer-related state blinked up at him and tilted his head, angling it upwards to face Harry better.

“Well, I’m not going to lie, I rather dislike being shorter than you,” the boy told him in his lilting, light voice.

Harry rolled his eyes but jerked slightly when he felt Polaris’ arm tighten around him. The blonde wizard used him casually as an anchor as he straightened himself up to his full height, back leaning against the wall. And suddenly, Harry was the one angling his face up to meet the other wizard’s eyes.

It was when he locked eyes with silver eyes that were familiar yet different that Harry suddenly realised just how dangerously close his face was to Polaris’. He stiffened as he took note of the fact that the blonde boy’s breath was fanning out lightly over his lips, mingling with his own.

Polaris’ breath smelled rather like treacle tart in his Harry’s opinion. He rather liked that. He wondered if he closed that small gap between him and the boy, he would taste treacle tart or something else.

Harry’s eyes widened as his absent thought sunk into his brain a beat later. He felt blood rushing up to his cheeks, staining them red.

That soft yet infuriating smile-not-smirk made a reappearance onto Polaris’ face.

 _Uh-oh_ , Harry thought as he stared at Luna’s ancestor.

Suddenly, he felt as if he were seeing the boy before him in a whole new light now that they were locked in a rather embarrassing position. (Granted it was also an intimate position Harry was decidedly _not thinking that_ ).

With a flustered clearing of his throat, Harry pushed himself away from the blonde.

“Sorry about that. I tripped.”

He wasn’t avoiding eye contact with Polaris. No. He just found the marble tiles of the toilet rather interesting.

 _Who knew marbles could shine so bright?_ Harry thought, ignoring the touch of hysteria in his mind voice.

“So, I take it something happened to leave us here _alone_ in a girls’ bathroom?”

Harry gratefully took the lifeline, valiantly ignoring the teasing in his companion’s voice.

“You apparently had been tasked to give me a reminder,” Harry informed the boy. “Honestly came off more as a warning though.”

Polaris’ gaze turned serious.

“What was the warning about?”

Harry gave a tired smile.

“A lot of things I’m not sure I fully understand. But I think the main message was clear.”

“Which was?” Polaris tilted his head.

“I need to go sleep. Properly,” Harry replied with a sigh.

Polaris tilted his head to the other side with a contemplative look.

“Well, I’m getting tingles on my right toes and no ominous itch on my left hip so you’ve gotten it right this time.”

Harry shot the teen and amused stare.

“Seriously? For your descendent it was nargles and wrackspurts. For you its tingles and itches?”

Polaris shrugged.

“I do believe in nargles and wrackspurts.”

Harry frowned.

“But you said you don’t believe in wearing butterbeer cork necklaces to ward off the nargles.”

Polaris nodded.

“Yeah, because that’s not how you ward off nargles. That’s for wrackspurts. Radish earrings are for the nargles. Everything went wrong over time.”

Harry blinked before he let go of restraint and facepalmed.

 _Well at least he’s right on one thing,_ he thought. _Everything went wrong over time._

Harry resurfaced from his hand, a glint in his eyes.

_But not if I can help it. History is not going to repeat. No._

He turned to face his serenely smiling companion.

“Come on Noodles. Time to leave –”

Harry paused.

“Something you need to do?” Polaris asked with a small smile.

Harry hummed.

“I think maybe, since you did bring me here, I should check something before I leave.”

“Do you want me to tag along?”

Harry paused.

“Not today. You go have lunch first, Noodles.”

Polaris smiled.

“As you wish. Tell the wrackspurts to come seek me for help if need be. They may be annoying but they do help when there is dire need.”

Harry blinked and watched in a puzzled silence as Polaris walked off from the toilet.

With a sigh, he disillusioned himself, recast the wards on the toilets’ main door and hissed out a command to the tiny snake engraved into one of the sink.

 _This is going to be a long day,_ he thought.

* * *

Tom certainly had never felt so excited his whole life. Excitement was rather a muted feeling in his bones. Often it was often overshadowed by his drive – his need to accomplish his goals. And whenever he succeeded in something, triumph would overtake.

But now. He was very much excited.

Like the first time he had stepped foot in Hogwarts, he remembered.

And it was all because of one Hadrian Rell.

Tom grinned, a malicious glint entering his eyes as he thought of the latest Slytherin addition.

He rather liked the boy, he would admit. Others may not have completely caught the implications during History of Magic but Tom knew full well who Binns had referred to while quoting Hadrian’s words to call someone in the faculty an “old coot”.

There was only one main propagator who strongly refuted teaching magic for magic from Tom’s experience.

Albus Dumbledore.

He hated that man. He did. With his words of fake concern and condescending blue eyes. If Tom could get away with it, he would have gorged those blue orbs out of the man’s face without remorse.

For the way he had abandoned him. And stopped him from staying in Hogwarts – his one true home.

If Hadrian disliked the man, he was already in Tom’s good books.

Not that he would trust Hadrian anytime soon. Oh no.

Tom wasn’t a fool.

But still, what had started as a change in routine was now certainly becoming a thrilling mystery for Tom.

_Hadrian Rell._

The boy had oh so many secrets that Tom simply couldn’t wait to ease them out of him. Ease them out and have the boy dancing in his palms like the others.

He had a long time to live, but Tom was starting to become certain that gaining Hadrian’s allegiance to him would be his biggest victory in his entire life. For there was just something about that boy.

He thought back to the first time he had met the boy, wandering hallways with his turbulent, powerful magic on display. Magic that vanished the moment he realised he had company. Magic that he could obviously _control_.

Such a gem at this age. How Tom wished he already had the reigns attached to the boy.

Then there was Hadrian’s intelligence and skills. The way the boy had effectively taught the others the key to spell casting silently, weaving history and logic into his explanation spoke of the fact that he was well educated.

Too well educated for someone from the streets.

Tom wanted to figure out how he had managed fooling the entire faculty into believing he was street-raised with that level of intelligence and information.

And Tom wouldn’t lie, he wanted to know where exactly the boy learnt his knowledge from. He certainly would like to read whatever books that one had devoured in his history craze. He wanted to learn, especially, about what the boy knew about Salazar Slytherin and the Slytherin heritage.

Which was his birth right.

 _Hmm, how to draw you in, Hadrian Rell?_ He thought absently.

The chatter around him reached his ears. Tom refrained from rolling his eyes as he heard Abraxas whine on how Hadrian had been snatched away from him.

“Shut it, Abraxas,” Tom looked up from the tomb he had been perusing briefly while simultaneously mulling over his thoughts.

He relished in the way the rest of his companions fell silent at his command. He had chosen to not reveal his true status in the hierarchy in front of Hadrian. He had yet to gauge the boy. Yet to understand him and his full benefits to Tom and his goals.

So, he had remained a silent observer for the most part whenever Hadrian was around.

But it felt good to remind himself and the others of who was in charge now and then, in moments like these where a glance or some words from him would be enough to earn obedience.

It reminded him of the times in his orphanage.

Not that he terrorised anyone here. He rather did like the company of his – _friends_ , he supposed – than the people back at the despicable muggle orphanage. They were intelligent and had somewhat valuable information to contribute. And he knew the loyalty he had cultivated from this lot was better than the obedience he had drilled into the orphans back in the non-magical world. Because loyalty voluntarily given was always better than the obedience fear brings.

He bore his gaze into the Malfoy heir. He rather enjoyed the way Abraxas’ spine straightened.

“Do you want to find Rell?”

Abraxas hesitated but still replied honestly.

“Yes,” the blonde replied quietly.

Tom tiled his head. Well, Abraxas certainly was one of his closest. Truthfully speaking, Tom would consider the blonde an actual friend despite his personal lack of interest and the instinctive mistrust he harboured for anyone he met or knew.

Besides, he wasn’t going to fool himself. Tom rather wanted to talk to Hadrian himself. He was itching to try and figure out the latest Slytherin.

And Tom was not rather patient when it came to some things.

“Fine. Pack up. We’ll go searching for Rell.”

The surprise was evident in all the others’ faces. Tom pretended not to notice. With a wave of his wand, he silently packed everything that belonged to him, relishing in the ability to do so. He supposed he had Hadrian to thank for enabling him to so easily figure out silent spell casting.

Tom knew he would have figured out the details by the end. His will was rather strong and he had managed to float his feather easily during his first try at silent casting in class. But Hadrian’s explanation had given clarity, enabling him to refine his thinking to drawing out his magic more before imposing his will on it.

He waited as Abraxas scrambled – rather gracefully still – to pack his own things with multiple waves of his wand and stumbled to follow after him as he left.

He noted the underlying confusion and wariness in the blonde’s face but didn’t probe. He knew Abraxas well. The boy would spill soon. He always did to him.

As expected, the question tumbled out of the Malfoy heir when they turned left into a deserted hallway with a distinct lack of portraits.

“Are you interested in Rell?”

Tom blinked but didn’t let his surprise show. Well, that explained why Abraxas was wary. He thought Tom was perhaps romantically interested in Hadrian.

Well the thought hadn’t really crossed his mind before, Tom would admit but now that it was mentioned –

_Full lips – Raven locks –Emerald eyes –_

Hadrian certainly had his own charm appearance wise. Tom knew he could feel some interest in the boy given time for his appearance alone.

_Wild magic – Secretive eyes – fighter posture – Defiant gaze –_

_ Power equal to his own _

A light heat passed through Tom.

This time he did let his surprise show.

Well. Wasn’t that a new revelation. Hadrian did have qualities that appealed to him much.

A groan from beside him had him looking curiously at Abraxas. The blonde had buried his head into his hands.

When he resurfaced, Abraxas had a pout on his face.

“I know that look of yours,” he grumbled to Tom.

Tom raised an eyebrow.

“That’s your ‘I-haven’t-thought-about-this-before’ look. Which means I very much bought myself a competitor by making you think of Hadrian as a potential pursuit!”

Abraxas groaned again.

Tom’s lips twitched.

“Well, this wouldn’t be the first time you’ve worked against yourself without realising,” he told the agitated blonde teasingly.

“ _Tom_!”

* * *

“Come on Abraxas. He’s nowhere to be found. We can find your crush after lunch. The others probably have yet to eat too. Being the study muggers that they are, they probably have forgotten their stomachs.”

Abraxas deflated but followed Tom as the prefect walked back towards the library. He knew it when Tom was done with something. And currently his friend was done walking aimlessly for a person who couldn’t be found.

“You make it sound like you’re not a mugger yourself when it comes to studying,” the blonde muttered back. “Or that you don’t have a crush on him.”

He rolled his eyes when Tom shot him an amused look.

“I don’t believe I have a crush on him like you. He interests me. But I don’t find my eyes trailing him like a lost puppy like yours do.”

Abraxas shot the raven-haired boy a scathing look before perking up.

“Just interested only Tom? Does this mean I have a better chance?”

Tom shrugged before sending him a smirk.

“You seem to have forgotten your main competitor,” Tom replied.

Abraxas frowned.

“Have you already forgotten the blonde who was pretty much clinging onto Hadrian during Charms? He did “steal” the boy as you had been ranting.”

Abraxas’ mood instantly soured.

“We do not talk about that _thief_ ,” he gritted out.

“I thought _Noodles_ was the adorable nickname Rell had christened the boy with,” Tom teased.

Abraxas huffed and didn’t reply.

Harry sighed internally as the Great Hall quietened when he entered. Long having been exposed to this kind of behaviour when he had been living as Harry Potter in the future, he ignored the way the students were whispering around him and walked off to find a seat. Besides, he had been rather expecting such behaviour since having so blatantly let the whole school witness his first HOM lesson with the first years before lunch.

He was also expecting a summons to the Headmaster sooner or later.

 _Ah well,_ he thought. _I’ll deal with that when it comes_.

* * *

He could see from when he was passing the Hufflepuff area itself that the Slytherin tables were rather deserted on the other side of the Hall. His newest gang of “friends” that he had made were evidently not yet down for lunch. Or perhaps they had long finished and were elsewhere studying. Harry wouldn’t be surprised. He knew that with the way lunch was stretched over two and a half hours, some students preferred to study a bit more before coming down for their meal or eating their meals quickly to pull in some revision time. And there was only an hour left before lunch would end.

He had rather spent a lot of time in the Chamber of Secrets.

He let his eyes stray to the Ravenclaw table he was approaching, gaze zooming into familiar blonde curls and pale skin. An image of his Luna fluttered over the actual person he was watching for a few seconds and Harry felt his heart pang. He shoved aside the emotion behind his Occlumency shields.

He really, really had to stop this train of thought of his. Polaris was _not_ his Luna.

 _Nor are any these other students my past friends,_ he thought to himself as he walked by the buzzing students, ignoring the familiar features that kept springing out on him every time he glanced their way.

As he walked by the Ravenclaw table, Harry paused midway and casually plopped onto the vacant seat beside Polaris’ left. He ignored how the rest of the Raven fifth years who were nearby startled at his unexpected presence.

“Hello Noodles,” he greeted serenely, pulling over a clean plate to start lunch.

He was rather famished. Teaching rather drained his energy.

“Hi _Ry_ ,” Polaris greeted back.

Harry stilled and turned to give the Lovegood heir a puzzled expression.

“I can give you nicknames too, you know, silly?” Polaris said with a light smirk. “Besides, it shortens Harry.”

Harry rolled his eyes as he piled some mixed vegetables onto his plate.

“You’re very lazy if you want to shorten my already short name,” he told the boy. “Seriously, how hard is it to call me Harry?”

“Um – sorry to cut in but isn’t your name Hadrian?” a shy voice came from his left, from somewhere across the table.

Harry looked up. He met Morgana’s inquisitive face.

“Hello Morgana,” he greeted with a soft smile before clarifying. “Yes, my given name is Hadrian. But my family used to call me Harry for short.”

Others around him, who were obviously eavesdropping, nodded their heads along with the girl in understanding.

“Ok, that makes a lot of sense. Again, sorry for just butting in on your conversation.”

Harry gave a small smile.

“It’s no problem. You are much better off in terms of propriety than you’re silently eavesdropping friends,” he replied teasingly, shooting a pointed glance at the two other fifth years near them.

The two who were obviously related considering their similarities, blushed simultaneously. Polaris chuckled beside him while Morgana grinned.

“I’m Archana Patil,” one seated beside Morgana’s left replied. “Sorry for eavesdropping.”

Harry waved it off the apology lightly with a smile, trying to ensure his war memories didn’t resurface at the sound of the familiar last name. He had not really realised that the Patil twins from his time had such a long ancestry. With a pang, he wondered how many of his other batchmates he had not really gotten to know well before they each died off.

Polaris tangled his left leg with his right discreetly under the table, understanding his inner conflicts and pain without words. Harry calmed as the touch anchored him to his reality and reminded himself to thank the boy later.

“I’m Akaash Patil,” the boy beside Archana said after his sister was done. “Unfortunate fraternal twin to this one.”

“I should be the one saying that idiot,” Archana snapped as she shot him a dirty look.

Harry smiled at their antics.

“Sorry again for eavesdropping,” Akaash continued on as though he hadn’t been interrupted.

Harry waved it off again.

“It’s fine. I’m guilty of doing similar things when near strangers. Just for the sake of it, I’ll introduce myself properly too. I’m Hadrian Rell, latest Slytherin addition and due to a poor life decision, Professor for History of Magic for the first till fourth years,” he said.

“Out of curiosity, why are you sitting here for lunch?” Archana asked.

Harry shrugged.

“Well, the people I know from my batch weren’t at the Slytherin table when I arrived,” he replied to her.

Harry looked over to check the Slytherin table once more.

“Still aren’t here actually.” He turned back to face Archana. “I didn’t feel like eating lunch alone, you see and Noodles here is the only other person I really know.”

Polaris sighed again at the nickname.

“Please don’t call me Noodles in front of others at least.”

Harry shook his head in refusal.

“Your hair looks way too much like Ramen for me to not call you Noodles,” Harry replied as he took a bite out of the chicken on his plate.

Polaris sighed.

“Ramens a type of noodles, I take?” Morgana piped up from across him.

Harry nodded.

He was about to elaborate when he felt Polaris kick him lightly under the table. Harry turned to give the boy a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“Nothing,” the wizard replied with a dazed look but Harry noted the light panic that was quickly fading in the boy’s eyes.

He knew that look. Luna had that occasionally when she glimpsed something but couldn’t hold onto what she had seen.

By personal experience, he also knew neither he nor Luna – or in this case, Polaris – could do anything about it either.

Harry lightly nudged the blonde boy’s legs in comfort from where his own were tangled with the boy’s and returned to focus on their other companions with an awkward smile. They for their part, didn’t say anything about the momentary pause in the conversation, thought Harry noted they did seem rather amused by something.

“An old witch I once met introduced me to the dish. Her name was Mizuki Sharma. She had a mixed heritage you see,” Harry picked up where they had left as thought they hadn’t been interrupted at all. “Her father was Japanese while her mother was half Indian and half Chinese. She used to share the different dishes that she knew and loved from all those different cultures and I particularly loved the Ramen noodles. They’re very delicious. They’re often served with some broth and eating it during the winter season is as nice as curling up with some hot chocolate during a cold, rainy day.”

Harry paused.

“Actually, I’m rather biased to this dish so I’d say it’s even better than the hot chocolate.”

The others smiled at that.

“Well now I’m interested in trying some,” Akaash replied.

The others nodded in agreement and Harry smiled.

“We could always ask the House Elves to see if they would be willing to learn how to cook some for us,” Harry said. “Maybe we can all ask for a different dish from our own cultures. I’d like to try some Indian food again, I’ll admit. It’s been a long time.”

Archana smiled.

“Well, that’s a lovely idea. We should totally do it!”

“Yeah, and we do have a Japanese witch in our batch whom we can potentially ask recipes from,” Morgana added.

Everyone chuckled at how Harry perked up at that information.

“Her name’s Ye-i,” Morgana paused with a painful expression. “Darn it I think butchered her name again.”

The others snickered as Morgana buried her face into her hands. Harry blinked.

“She meant to say Yui,” Polaris helpfully told Harry.

“Ah,” Harry replied.

“Sorry, I’m really bad pronouncing names and things,” Morgana told Harry as she finally resurfaced from hiding into her hands.

“She really is,” Archana affirmed from her side with a bright smile.

Morgana deflated a bit more.

“In first year, she was terrible at all our practical sessions that needed her to do spells,” Akaash added. “There was this one time she set our Charms professor’s robes on fire while she tried to levitate her feather during our first ever practical.”

Harry hid a smile behind his hand while Morgana whined.

“You guys,” she pleaded. “Can we not bring this up again?”

“Again?” Archana inquired with a curious look. “This is the first time we’re bringing it up since last year.”

“Ah, this was brought up during Professor Hawthorn’s class,” Harry told the Indian girl.

Archana’s eyes lit up.

“Oh right. I remember. During when you were teaching the class instead,” she said with a friendly yet teasing smile.

Harry blinked.

“What?”

The others chuckled.

“Ry, pretty much the whole class was listening in on your tips,” Polaris informed him.

Harry blinked again.

“What?”

He wasn’t gaping. He _wasn’t_.

The others snickered at him.

Harry took a leaf out of Morgana’s book and buried his face in his hands.

“Oh, don’t worry sweetie, we thought you were a rather adorable geek by the end of the lesson,” Akaash told him.

Harry missed the deadpan expression Polaris shot the Indian boy or the way Akaash lifted his hands up in surrender, a smirk on his lips as he wiggled his brows at Polaris. The girls giggled at the duo and giggled more when Harry groaned from between his hands, having thought they were snickering at him.

“Well, it did help that you were an informative geek who really helped all of us in our silent casting,” Archana added.

Harry looked up from his hands with a sigh.

“Can we move back to Mrogana and her first-year explosions?”

Morgana shot him a betrayed look.

“She’s gotten better honestly,” Polaris told Harry from his right, taking mercy upon him and obediently targeting Morgana as suggested. “She only sets things on fires once a week nowadays instead of every day.”

Morgana pushed her plate aside and simply banged her head against the table in defeat.

“There, there,” Harry told the girl, feeling slightly bad for her.

“It’s alright, Hadrian,” Morgana replied from where she had squished her face onto the table. Her words came out muffled. “I’m used to their evilness.”

Harry chuckled.

“You’re in a rather ironic situation you know?”

Morgana shifted her face to have her left cheek squished onto the table, looking up miserably at Harry.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re a muggleborn with the name Morgana for merlin’s sake,” Harry chuckled in reply. “And you calling your friends evil while your namesake is often considered the villain by the muggles’ version of the tale is rather funny.”

His response invoked a round of laughter around them. Morgana’s lips twitched.

“Well, my mother is rather obsessed with myths and legends, you see. So, she named me after her favourite character from the stories of Camelot she’d read and researched. Which just happened to be Morgana,” the girl explained. “Mum always believed Morgana to not be completely evil or completely good so she hadn’t really felt terrible at naming me after a character that was widely believed to be villainous.”

Harry smiled.

“She must have gotten quite the shock when she realised you were a witch and that magic was real.”

Morgana sat up with a smile.

“Yeah, she did. But she was glad to find out more about the actual history of Camelot though.”

“They taught you that?” Harry asked surprise.

Morgana shook her head.

“No. I researched it for my mum while at the Hogwarts library.”

Harry leaned forward eagerly.

“There are books here for that?”

The others chuckled at his enthusiasm.

“Well, some of them have been restricted away since I’ve come here,” Morgana admitted. “But there are still others.”

Harry frowned.

“Why are they restricted now?”

“The war,” Akaash explained in reply.

Harry tilted his head, confused.

“Why?”

“Don’t you know?” Archana asked with her confused frown. “We’ve heard you were involved heavily in the war.”

Harry shrugged.

“I’m not sure what the exact rumours circulating about me are,” he replied. “I mean my family was involved yes, politically too. But by the time I could take care of myself, all of the adults were killed off, so I don’t know much about their side of the story. Me and those my age were more involved in the running, hiding and fighting off any more of the men still trying to hunt the survivors and finish them off. We weren’t really keeping up with politics.”

“That’s a terrible life,” Archana responded miserably. “I’m sorry you had to live through that!”

Harry shrugged again.

“You said you had people your age?” Morgana probed gently. “Are they…?”

“Dead?” Harry finished the question for her. “Very much.”

The others grimaced at his flat tone.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry or be rude –”

“It’s alright,” Harry cut in with a sigh. “I just don’t like talking about it. Sorry for my tone.”

Morgana shook her head.

“You’re hurting. It’s understandable. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.”

Harry took a sip from his glass instead of responding, unsure how to break the awkward atmosphere.

“Well, I suppose we should explain the war politics to you then,” Archana said, diverting the focus away from the sombre mood.

Harry shot her a grateful look.

“You see, with Grindelwald trying to expose us our society more towards the muggles, the governments internationally are trying to sway people to be more secretive. That kind of translated to doing rituals and such stuff behind warded doors and away from public spaces, especially if it is wizarding public spaces since those areas happen to be hidden nearby muggle areas. It’s more to ensure Grindelwald’s people don’t get a chance to sabotage and expose us by messing with rituals.”

Harry hummed. It made sense. He knew how a messed-up ritual could cause explosions and great magical backlashes. In worse case scenarios, the backlashes can tear through even powerful wards. And strip away the barriers hiding places like Diagon Alley, exposing them to muggle eyes.

 _Well,_ he thought. _This may explain how the Olde Ways and rituals slowly got eroded over time. The war with Grindelwald does leave a huge impact. And it’s going to last a few more years if history were to repeat…_

“But why does that affect the books again?” Harry asked.

“There are ritual examples and clear instructions in them,” Morgana explained. “The teachers said that restricting them to older years with better experience would better ensure younger years who get too curious and excited from trying to do the rituals.”

Harry blinked.

“But they’re _history_ books!”

He pouted as the others laughed at his indignation.

“Well, the teachers already decided on the matter.”

“But Hogwarts is secluded. We are far away from the muggle population,” he argued. “And honestly, magical backlashes from the rituals, while I understand how bad they can go, are not very realistically possible of happening with a first year to third year doing it.”

Harry tilted his head as the other blinked at him.

“Come one you guys. At that age, the children only have a partway matured core. Unless they are some Childe of Magic incarnate, I doubt any of them could truly power a ritual. Even if they did, the ritual’s backlash will be weak due to the magic poured in being of a lower power than that of a fully stabilised core – which only comes at fifth year onwards.”

“Fifth year?” Archana asked. “Isn’t seventeen the magical maturity age?”

Harry shook his head.

“Magical inheritances come by age seventeen. Plus, to our society, seventeen happens to be the age where you can be considered responsible enough too, since you finish your tertiary education and are able to integrate and work as a productive member in society by then. Magical cores however, fully stabilise by fifth year. It’s why we have a major exam this year. Your cores are stabilised and you can be examined for how well you’re managing with a stabilised core. The years following that are when affinities develop, which gives clues to your magical inheritances.”

Harry paused.

“Well unless the children happen to be solstice children. Then the magical cores will stabilise by their fourteenth birthdays but they can be effectively kept from trying rituals with careful rules and monitoring.”

Akaash gave him a blank stare.

“Dude, how are you so knowledgeable?”

Harry shrugged.

“I may be obsessed with history books. Those books were the only stuff I had from my family that survived through the attacks with me. Plus, many people I got acquainted with in the streets have many stories and perspectives to share. You get lots of knowledge that way,” he explained sheepishly.

The others laughed.

“Well at least it explains why you’re the youngest history teacher,” Archana replied with a chuckle.

Harry grinned as he took another bite of his meal.

“Oh, by the way, the Slytherin fifth years are coming,” Morgana informed him.

Harry turned to take in his housemates walking in before turning back to his meal. They hadn’t noticed him but they would as they walked past the Ravenclaw table to reach the Slytherin one.

“Are you going to go sit with them?” Archana inquired.

Harry shook his head, gesturing at his almost completed meal.

“No point. Besides, you guys are rather pleasant company.

He smiled softly at how the others beamed at that.

* * *

“Hadrian?”

Harry turned to face Abraxas.

“Hello Abraxas,” he greeted the blonde before sending a nod of acknowledgement to the others behind him.

Tom was giving him a rather intense look. Harry ignored it.

“Why are you sitting here?”

Harry noted the way the chatter in the Hall was quietening. He refrained from rolling his eyes at people’s nosiness.

“Well, I came for lunch early and didn’t want to particularly eat alone,” he repeated the explanation he had given his Ravenclaw companions. “ _Noodles_ and his friends were kind enough to keep me company.”

“Oh, come on! At least don’t keep calling me that in front of others!” Polaris whined at him, giving him a mock glare.

Harry grinned unrepentantly at the boy, missing the brief look of surprise and jealousy that morphed on Abraxas face who was behind him.

Polaris and the others didn’t however.

“Do you guys usually reach lunch around this time?” he asked curiously when he turned back to face the Malfoy heir.

Tom answered in the blonde’s stead.

“We lost track of time today. Usually, we save an hour to eat our meals.”

“I see.”

“Well, do you want to join us now?” Abraxas asked, gesturing at the other fifth year Slytherins who were watching his interaction with Hadrian with amused expressions.

“Oh no, thanks,” Harry replied. “I’m almost done with my meal. I’ll join you guys later during the break before Astronomy?”

Harry tilted his head, noting the brief look of disappointment that flashed through Abraxas and wondering why. The boy and he weren’t close enough to warrant disappointment at the lack of company for lunch.

Perhaps he hadn’t wanted Harry there for break. He remembered the slight falling out they had had before he left to teach his first lesson.

“I mean, only if you guys don’t already have plans for the break session,” he added, giving the boy a way out.

“No!” Abraxas cut in with a rather sharp voice then coughed embarrassedly as his friends snickered around him. “I mean, we do already have plans to study together. But we’ll be more than happy to have you there too!”

Harry blinked.

“Are you sure? I won’t impose if you don’t want me to –”

“You could study with us if you want to,” Polaris cut in with a kind smile that turned into a smirk when Harry wasn’t looking.

His friends followed his lead.

“Yeah, we have the same break period,” Archana added with a sweet smile.

Abraxas seemed to panic.

“Oh well I don’t mind studying with you guys,” Harry took Abraxas’ floundering to be the boy not knowing how to withdraw the invite he had given Harry.

“No, study with us!” Abraxas insisted.

Harry blinked now confused.

“Well, you know, we all could study together for a change,” Riddle interjected politely, feeling kind enough to help Abraxas a bit. “Our houses do have Astronomy together tonight. Plus, the library tables can be rearranged for a big group study.”

Abraxas brightened.

“Yeah. We can do that.”

“Well, if you guys are ok with that –” Harry looked at the Ravenclaw who nodded their acceptance. “Great! We’ll meet you guys there during break!”

Harry tilted his head in confusion as Polaris, Morgana and the Patil twins chuckled after the Slytherins had left.

“What?”

“You have no idea of the chaos you create, do you?” Archana asked.

“What did I do?” Harry frowned.

“Sweetie,” Morgana said. “We don’t usually spend time doing group studies with other houses unless we have group projects. You’ve already created ripples with that ritual you did with the first years in the morning. You’re going to create waves if people found out _you_ were the reason behind Slytherins and Ravenclaws studying together, especially with a muggleborn like me included in the mix.”

Harry blinked.

“But I didn’t suggest it,” he replied. “How am I the reason then?”

Harry frowned as the others snickered.

“Oh, _Ry_ you’re clueless,” Polaris said as he casually threw an arm around Harry’s shoulders.

Harry stiffened slightly before relaxing.

“Why?”

The others snickered more and Harry missed Polaris looking to his right and giving Abraxas a smirk to the Malfoy heir’s annoyance.

“We’re not telling you,” Akaash replied.

Harry pouted.

“Why not?”

“What’s the fun in that for us?” was Archana’s reply.

Harry pouted more.

* * *

“Careful there, Abraxas. You might set the plate on fire if you glare any harder,” Druella teased.

All around the table, Abraxas’ friends snickered at him. The Malfoy heir sulked.

“Come on now, Rell hasn’t married Lovegood. He’s only sitting there for lunch.”

Abraxas shot a glare at Druella for the reminder. Unfortunately, facing the girl meant he had to see the sight of Hadrian Rell and Polaris Lovegood sitting _together_ at the Ravenclaw table beyond. Abraxas felt himself adorn another frown despite his attempt to seem casual.

Another round of snickering went around the group.

“Stop laughing at me,” Abraxas muttered half-heartedly, knowing it was a pointless argument. He wasn’t going to win. His friends did enjoy another’s embarrassment too much. And being guilty of the same behaviour, when he himself was not a victim of the situation, Abraxas knew it was hypocritical of him to be admonishing them for what they were doing.

“There, there, love,” Walburga patted his shoulder mockingly in an attempt to comfort, “Rell will be in astronomy session tonight. You can sit next to him for a whole two hours in a romantic mood under the starlight.”

This time, his friends outright guffawed at his affronted look at Walburga’s act. Even Tom had his lips twitching upwards.

“And you can even snatch a seat beside him in the library later during study session,” Adrian told him with a smirk. “If you catch him before _Noodles_.”

Abraxas gave a huff in defeat and slumped down to bang his head on the table, giving up on maintaining Pureblood etiquette. There was no way he could act stoic at the rate these idiots were going. He mentally cursed Lovegood for this. It was all that boy’s fault. If he had not become such fast friends with Hadrian over Charms, Abraxas would not be in this position.

He ignored the way the laughter around him grew.

Thank Merlin lunch would be over in ten minutes. Abraxas did not think he could last through the shame he was feeling otherwise.

Sometimes, he regretted that his friends were exactly like him when it came to enjoying someone else’s misery.

* * *

Harry felt rather uncomfortable. He had no idea how he had ended up between Abraxas and Polaris. But he was starting to wish that he hadn’t ended up here. The two were honestly radiating tension.

He remembered seeing two street dogs in a fight while one the run. The two had barked, bitten and gone at each other’s throats like feral beasts for territory. It had been rather unnerving to watch. Harry had never thought of dogs as only the domesticated and lovable pet that Fang had once been for Hagrid since that time.

Now he rather felt like he was watching another of such a fight between his two seatmates. He wished he rather knew what the territory was that they were fighting over.

 _Do they have history?_ He wondered.

In the future, he didn’t remember Draco or Luna being hostile like how their ancestors were currently behaving.

His focus snapped back to his companions when Polaris casually threw an arm around Harry and he saw Abraxas literally snap if the anger on the boy’s face was any indication. The jealousy that flashed through the Malfoy heir’s eyes was something Harry didn’t miss either.

Things clicked in his brain.

_Oh dear. He wasn’t prepared for a ‘lovers in denial’ situation._

He didn’t really think it was possible. But he couldn’t be sure. He was terrible at emotions. He had not realised Lavender and Parvati were dating for a period of time ill he walked in on the duo kissing for Merlin’s sake.

“Will you stop harassing Hadrian for at least a minute, Lovegood?”

Harry blinked, distracted from his thought. He was Hadrian to the blonde now? When did that happen?

“I’m not harassing him. There’s no rule that states I can’t put my arm around my _friend_ , Malfoy.”

Harry was really, really wishing he could disappear between the two’s lover spat. They were worse than even Hermione and Draco when those two had constantly snarked and snapped at each other to get each other’s attention. The only time Hermione honestly could be accused of having a not clear head was when around a reformed Draco who still liked to pull her figurative pigtails.

“Well, um Morgana?” Harry stood up rather suddenly. “Those history books you mentioned you used for research? The one on Camelot and rituals and all that. Care to show them to me?”

Harry walked over to grab the girl before she could reply, dragging her towards the restricted section frantically, without paying heed to the snickering the rest of the group were doing and blatantly ignoring the pouts from Polaris and Abraxas.

He had lived through one set of Hermione and Draco. It was enough for him. It was _enough_.

He honestly didn’t have the strength to live through another pair.

* * *

“Well should I really be surprised that there was some truth to the excuse you used to escape from the table?” a voiced teased.

Harry and Morgana looked up from the old tome they were briefing over in shock to be greeted by Walburga’s face.

“Um, it really wasn’t an excuse truthfully,” Harry told her. “Morgana had promised to show me where these books are shelved during lunch. I just held her to her promise when I needed an escape.”

Harry didn’t miss the note of surprise that flashed through Walburga’s face. He titled his head.

“Why? Did you really not think she would research such history because she was a muggleborn?”

He felt bad when Morgana tensed beside him but he thought it was rather worth it when he saw Walburga’s cheeks colour in embarrassment.

“I didn’t –”

“Walburga we’ve been standing here for a couple of minutes. You’ve yet to acknowledge her presence,” Harry deadpanned.

The blush on Walburga’s cheeks intensified.

“Ah sorry,” the witch turned with a strained smile to face Morgana. “Hi I’m –”

Morgana raised her hand.

“Really there’s no need to force yourself if you don’t want to do it. I’ll – I’ll just leave,” Morgana replied, averting eyes with the Black descendant.

Harry grabbed her arm, stopping her.

“Honestly why do you got to leave?”

Harry shot Walburga a look. The silent girl suddenly look chastened.

“I’m sorry,” the girl repeated to Morgana, this time sounding more sincere. “It was rude of me to assume things about you.”

Morgana gave a pained smile, not replying.

Harry sighed at the awkward atmosphere.

“Why did you come over to this section by the way Walburga?” he asked curiously.

“To check on you,” the witch replied.

Morgana seemed to frown at that.

“Why?”

“Oh well, just because. He’s been here for quite some time.”

Morgana’s frown smoothened, a rather blank look replacing it.

“Was this a concern because he’s here with me?”

Walburga’s eyes widened.

“No, not – ”

“I saw your female friend leave to look for books for a full fifteen minutes,” Morgana cut in. “You didn’t check on her. Hadrian and I have been gone for less than ten minutes.”

Walburga shot the girl an annoyed stare.

“Well, he’s new here. We are within our rights to check on him.”

“Why do that when you know he’s with someone else? Or do you not realise that I’ve been in this school for five years already? Forgotten the times you’ve been in my stuck with a muggleborn for group projects Walburga Black?” Morgana snapped back.

Walburga stepped back surprised by the sudden ferocity in the previously meek girl.

“The rest of the books are on the third row,” Morgana told Harry suddenly with a strained smile before leaving to return to their group’s table.

Harry gave Walburga a flat look.

“Seriously?”

“Hadrian you didn’t have to bring up the touchy subject so bluntly.”

Hadrian gave the girl a frigid stare.

“You mean you ignoring her? Well did you honestly believe it will stay unnoticed if you so unsubtly came to check in on me in her presence?”

Walburga looked away.

“What exactly do you think she would do to me in a library?” he asked, tone bland.

“Well you’re the history professor now Hadrian. People are looking to influence you –”

“The only people so far who have tried to influence my teaching, Walburga are the Slytherins,” Harry cut in bluntly. “Morgana was only showing me to the history books she used to research the story behind her namesake.”

Walburga shot him a curious look.

“Yes, her name’s inspiration did come from _the_ Morgana Le Fay,” Harry replied.

“She’s a muggleborn,” Walburga replied sceptically. “Besides, the muggle world believes in Morgana to be some evil incarnate or something.”

Harry raised an eyebrow.

“And how are you so sure about that?”

Walburga hesitated.

“Somebody told you that?” Harry asked sweetly.

Walburga huffed.

“Oh come on now, there’s no smoke without fire.”

Harry waved his wand, turning the air around them foggy and grey. Walburga coughed. He cleared the air with another wave of his wand.

“In the magical world, you’ll find that very much possible, Walburga Black.”

Harry pressed the tome he was holding to the girl’s hands.

Walburga looked down to read its title and stilled.

“She researched this?”

Harry nodded.

“From what she’s told me, she caught sight of it while researching for her namesake’s origins. Because her mother was rather interested in knowing the story of Morgana Le Fay, whom she had always thought was a misunderstood _feminist_ from a long time ago.”

Walburga’s head snapped up in surprise. Harry smiled internally at a bait well thrown.

“Being wary of people you don’t know or understand is not wrong, Walburga. But assuming about them and believing assumptions _without_ trying to verify the facts is not right. Especially when you are an intelligent person who has all the tools and brains to check stuff.”

Walburga didn’t reply.

Harry didn’t wait for her to either.

He conjured a parchment and signed on it.

“Perhaps you should take a look at the tome and try to think for yourself,” he told her, placing the signed parchment on top of the book in her hands. “Tell Madame Finch you have Professor Rell’s permission to check out this book.”

Harry went and gathered the other books Morgana had recommended.

“Oh and Walburga?”

He waited for brown eyes to meet his own.

“If you want to be someone who fights and supports female empowerment, you gotta learn to not discriminate against other females yourself,” Harry told her. “If not, don’t bother. You’re only going to make a hypocrite of yourself.”

He smiled at the way the girl’s jaw clenched.

 _Good_ , he thought. _If you get angry at being called a hypocrite, I can have faith that’ll you’ll work to not be one._

Harry left the Slytherin witch after that, wondering absently how this particular incident would likely change the future.

_What did I even change at all in this particular moment, now that I think about it?_

He supposed nothing would have happened. The girls probably wouldn’t even have exchanged words today if he had not been present.

When he reached the table, he found it to be shrouded in a rather awkward silence. Without a word, he moved his things over to Morgana’s side, forcing Riddle, who was sat on her right to move. The prefect glared at him but moved after Harry glared right back. The action had for some reason made Riddle smirk before he obligingly made space for him.

Harry settled into his new seat without further ado and nudged her left leg under the table in clear Lovegood style. The witch didn’t even twitch but he felt he relaxing and he caught the ‘thanks for sticking’ she discreetly wrote on her Charms essay’s margin.

Harry nudged her legs in reassurance for that.

* * *

It was perhaps a good twenty minutes later that Walburga returned to the table.

To Harry’s pleasant surprise, the witch approached the Ravenclaw side of the table, intending clearly to reach Morgana. He pressed his legs against the muggleborn when he felt her tense at Walburga’s presence.

“May I sit beside you?”

Walburga seemed very, very uncomfortable. Not the best way to approach somebody in all honesty but Harry could appreciate that the witch was at least trying.

“You don’t have to force –”

“I want to,” Walburga cut in firmly.

Morgana blinked before narrowing her eyes.

“Why?”

“Why not?” Walburga shot back.

Harry sighed and placed his book with a bang before unceremoniously dragging Morgana chair closer to his, making space for Walburga. Morgana gaped at him in indignation.

“Oh, just let her sit, Morgy. You’re going to drain her of the courage she’s taken so long to muster up if you let her stand there embarrassingly for a second longer.”

Walburga shot Harry a glare while Morgana blinked at him.

“Gee thanks, Rell. Just embarrass me more, why don’t you?”

Harry gave her a sweet smile in response.

“I’m seriously confused,” Morgana told Harry.

“Who isn’t nowadays,” Harry replied back serenely to in pure Lovegood style.

Then he happily turned her face to her Charms essay and nudged her back to do her work.

“Just focus on your essay for now, Morgy.”

Harry returned to his book after that, not paying heed to the others in the group who had obviously been watching the trio in silence. 

And if he heard Walburga painfully attempt to strike a casual conversation with Morgana, who hesitantly played along in her confusion, well then, he pretended not to notice. He did shoot a glare at his other companions who had yet to return back to their work though, watching in internal amusement as they scrambled to get back to their own revisions.

 _By all the gods and goddesses, I hope Morgana and Walburga become actual friends by the end of this year,_ he prayed in his mind.

It would help him so, so much if that happened.

* * *

Harry turned about on the spot, wondering where the heck he was. He could have sworn he was on the second floor. Now it was like he was on the fifth floor.

Honestly, he just wanted to find the teachers’ lounge to go to blasted meeting they called up to “discuss” the lesson he had conducted in the morning.

He did not remember the castle being this confusing the last time he was here.

 _Which was about seven years ago,_ he thought with a jolt.

He paused.

Seven years.

Seven years was all it took for the entire magical world to be erased out of existence worldwide.

Harry looked around the deserted hallway he was in. He didn’t like being so alone.

_Harry knelt to his knees as he apparated into a random alley, panic coursing through his veins. His right arm was already weaving spells and healing incantations silently but he knew spell weren’t going to be enough right now._

_Not when there a deadly poisoned knife involved._

_“Come on, you’re going to be fine, mmh?” he muttered._

_He wasn’t sure who he was comforting. His own self or Ginny._

_Ginny gave him a weak chuckle, blood spurting out of her mouth. Harry cursed._

_His right arm stopped its frantic waving. He had used up all the healing spells he knew already._

_He cursed himself thrice over for being the weakest in the healing department. Damn him. Damn him. Damn him!_

_His left hand continued to search frantically for his pocket, trying to reach for the damned shrunken bag that held all the healing potions he had brewed beforehand. Harry gave Ginny a comforting smile meanwhile._

_She would be fine._

_She just had to._

_He stiffened when he felt cold air greet his hand instead of the usual warmth as he plunged it desperately into his left robe pocket._

_Or what he had thought was his left robe pocket._

_With shaking hands, Harry brought his robe end to his face, staring in despair at the torn and tattered end. Staring at the damning hole where his pocket should have been._

_The image of Ginny turning cold and lifeless like countless others swam across his mind. He shook his head._

_“Must have put it in another pocket,” he muttered._

_His hand wandered over to his other side. But his brain knew long before his fingers reached in that nothing was in the right pocket. His heart refused to believe._

_A hand on his own distracted him._

_“There’s no potions on us, Harry,” the redhead woman coughed out weakly._

_Harry shook his head._

_“Don’t be daft. I brewed a whole patch for emergency –”_

_His voice was not going hysterical. Not at all._

_Harry’s right arm tried to shake off Ginny’s rapidly cooling fingers._

_Why the heck were they cooling so fast? he thought desperately._

_“I saw your robe tear Harry.”_

_Harry stilled._

_“You’re going to be fine,” Harry told her, looking her straight in the eye._

_She had to be fine._

_Ginny gave him a sad smile which broke when a cough racked through her system, blood spilling more from her already bleeding lips. The cough soon turned into a full out wheeze._

_Harry stared helplessly, bringing up his knees to bring to somehow bring Ginny, who was hacking on his lap, closer. To somehow clutch her closer._

_His heart skipped several beats in his panic each time he thought Ginny might draw in her last breath._

_The woman stopped wheezing after a few minutes._

_“You’re going to be fine,” he whispered brokenly to Ginny._

_She had to be fine. She just had to._

_Harry stroked Ginny’s hair gently, his blood-stained hands adding more tangles to her dirty, matted hair. He thought back to the times when the natural red in them shone brightly. When there wasn’t dirt and mud coating her long hair. When the red in them weren’t caused by blood._

_He stared down into the warm eyes he had come to love over the years._

_“You’ll find the others won’t you?” Ginny’s voice floated up to him, coughs breaking her words up frequently._

_“We will,” he corrected in a whisper._

_Why was her voice turning so soft? Why? She had to be fine!_

_“I’m not going to make –”_

_Harry covered her lips gently with her hands, shaking his head vehemently._

_“Please don’t finish that Ginny,” he told her brokenly._

_Ginny’s eyes misted over._

_A weak hand pulled away his fingers from her lips. Harry obligingly moved his hand away._

_“Harry,” Ginny’s arm tightened against his weakly, warning him from repeating his earlier actions. “I’m going to die.”_

_Harry felt the tears he had kept at bay spill._

_“No,” he whispered._

_Ginny gave him a sad smile before coughing up more blood again. Harry noted that a tinge of greenish-blue hue was started to spread up the woman’s neck._

_Poison, his treacherous mind whispered._

_Harry broke down._

_“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”_

_Trembling fingers coated in blood reached up to cover his lips._

_“It’s not your fault, idiot Harry,” Ginny wheezed weakly._

_Harry stared at her brokenly._

_“I love you Harry,” Ginny whispered. “Thanks for l- loving me back, even if you couldn’t f – fall in love with me.”_

_Harry brought their heads together with a sob._

_“Idiot. I should be the one thanking you for loving me despite all my flaws.”_

_He pressed a kiss onto Ginny’s forehead, giving a tear-stained smile as the witch grinned at him for the action._

_“I’m sorry we didn’t work out Ginny,” he told her._

_Ginny swatted him – or tried to. Evidently, she didn’t have the strength since her hand fell back down a quarter way up its journey. Ginny shuddered and Harry instinctively hugged her closer._

_“Silly Harry,” the youngest Weasley wheezed. “I got to date my crush. A-and I got to learn to love deep with D-Dean.”_

_Harry held her close, knowing how much talking about Dean hurt Ginny. All they had managed to find of the boy was an old necklace the boy had worn in memory of his mother. A necklace that Ginny still wore, though its chain was now blackened and dirtied by dirt and blood._

_Ginny’s hand trembled on its way up to her neck. She gasped as her poor coordination caused her to move the blade stuck to her chest._

_Harry gently guided the weak, slender fingers away from the blade and to the chain she was obviously reaching for._

_“I got a good deal in my love life silly.”_

_Ginny smiled. Her teeth that were stained in blood glinting in the dimly lit alley._

_“Plus I’m dying in your arms –” Her coughs worsened, wrecking her entire body._

_Harry watched helplessly._

_“Great way to go,” the redheaded witch finished with a pained face, body still trembling._

_Harry flicked her forehead gently._

_“Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”_

_He wasn’t sure who he was scolding. Him or her._

_But he was sure he wasn’t imagining the blue-tinged cheeks Ginny was sporting._

_She had probably a minute left, his brain whispered traitorously to him._

_Harry held the woman he had once fallen in love with closer._

_“Find the others, k?” Ginny breathed out, voice raspy from all the coughing she had done._

_Harry pressed his forehead against hers forlornly._

_“K?” Ginny pressed, voice losing strength._

_“K,” he whispered back._

_“Good boy,” the woman said._

_Harry watched as Ginny closed her eye tiredly, taking in the freckles adorning her face. Most of them were covered beneath dirt and grime and blood. But he could still remember them all from once upon a time where he had spent peppering kisses over the woman’s face._

_Once upon a time when they had all been young and free._

_Ginny’s last breath fanned across his lips that hovered a hair’s breadth away from her own. Harry clutched the woman tighter, wishing hard that he would feel another tremble in her body. Another cough racking up her throat. Another faint heartbeat._

_Any sign at all to show that she was still alive. That she was still somehow with him._

_None came._

_He sobbed alone in the alley for the rest of the night._

Harry jolted out of his memories as he felt something cool pressed against his lips. He swallowed instinctively, even as his brain warned him to check first. For poisons. For foul play.

He felt his heart rate calming down.

 _Ah calming draught,_ he thought, finally recognising the tangy but numbing after taste in his mouth as his mind slowly cleared.

A set of blue grey eyes swam into focus before him.

“ -drian? Hadrian?”

Harry looked back blankly at the voice.

 _Who’s Hadrian?_ He blinked. _Oh right. I am._

“I’m here, I’m here,” he muttered absently to the male before him, still feeling the echoes of his memories in his heart even under the numbness the Calming Draught was spreading across his body.

“Are you alright?” a lighter voice called out to him.

Harry turned his head to face the female crouching alongside his male saviour. Silver-grey eyes and a slightly wizened face greeted him.

 _Gala,_ his mind supplied absently, not sure how the name ended. _Good person…nice person...No grudges after duel…_

Harry gave a weak smile.

“I’m fine Gala,” he whispered back. “I’m fine.”

He wondered why his voice sounded so far away.

Harry blinked.

Matter of fact. The voices of his saviours sounded far away too.

“Hadrian what happened?” his male saviour asked.

Harry couldn’t quite remember his name.

“Nothing much,” he shrugged. “Ginny was just dying. _Again_.”

He looked around him, swaying slightly as he took in the dimly lit hallway.

“She dies every time in alley ways,” he told his saviours casually. “Mental that one. Took a knife in my stead. Idiotic idiot. _Stupid_. She was mental, she was.”

Harry didn’t really realise his voice cracked. Nor did he note the way his companions’ eyes softened as they watched his swaying self. He only noted that his vision was rather rapidly darkening.

 _I suppose I could sleep for a bit,_ he thought.

Polaris’ face swam across his mind.

 _Ah, Noodles did warn me to sleep properly,_ he thought absently.

 _“What a way to end my first day of teaching”_ was his last thought as he fell unconscious, unaware of the firm set of hands that were there to catch him as he fell.

* * *

Valerian Bitterwood and Galatea Merrythought exchanged worried glances.

“War flashbacks,” Galatea muttered to her colleague.

Valerian nodded.

“War flashbacks,” he repeated in confirmation, staring down at the small fifteen-year-old he was carrying. “He’s the worst case we’ve seen, haven’t we?”

Galatea nodded with a sigh.

“Well, he’s been on streets and fighting since he could run it seems. It honestly shouldn’t be surprising that he’s faced the brunt of the war. I told you before how experienced he is in fighting. Not duelling like we teach. But full out fighting.”

Valerian nodded.

“Yes, you did regale us with the tale of how you thrashed the abandoned classroom in the seventh floor with this one many times already, Galatea,” Valerian replied with a deadpan stare.

Galatea rolled her eyes.

“Oh, leave me be. It’s been years since I’ve had such a good duel or fight. If you discount one Tom Riddle, of course. But even Riddle pales in comparison to Hadrian’s skills.”

Valerian rolled his eyes.

“Of course, he would, Galatea. Rell’s been learning to use everything and anything he’s got to survive unlike most of our other students, even Riddle who at least has the security of an orphanage. Now how about we talk about what to do next instead?”

Galatea shot him a puzzled look.

“What else is there to do? We got to send him to bed. Cuthbert’s room is the nearest. We’ll have the boy stay there for the night. Maybe ask Rose to come check him over too.”

“The meeting –”

“Honestly Valerian,” Galatea cut in. “The meeting can be postponed. Hadrian’s not in any state to attend it. Besides, I rather do think it’s pointless.”

Valarian chuckled.

“Well don’t let Albus hear you say that,” he replied as he started to walk towards the dead HOM professor’s room with Galatea in tow.

“Whyever not? It is pointless. It’s in the syllabus to teach such matters, plus it’s heritage. The boy did everything fine and even had the House elves enrolled to bring students away to safety if anything went wrong. I understand Albus’ worries but I still stand by that we should work on improving our ability to monitor the kids, rather than try to dumb then down.”

“Albus doesn’t see it as a dumb down process though.”

“And that’s exactly the problem isn’t it?” Galatea grumbled. “He doesn’t see what he’s doing wrong.”

Valerian sighed but didn’t argue. He knew Galatea wasn’t wrong anyways.

* * *

_Harry blinked as he took in his seating position under a gnarled, ancient tree._

_It was a rather peculiar tree, he noted. It had a fluted trunk that was blacker than an abyss. No moss or fern decorated it unlike the trees that Harry had seen in the living plane. Its branches housed leaves that were shaped like needles. The leaves were such a deep shade of dark green that they too could have been mistaken to be black like the tree’s bole and branches. In fact, if it weren’t for the mysterious white light that specifically shone down on the tree, Harry was sure he would have thought the whole tree was coloured black._

_But what made the tree most peculiar however, was the way it was shaped._

_The tree’s thick trunk veered to the right as it rose up and away from its creeping roots and base. But a quarter of the way, it bent backwards and then tilted back to the left, almost like it was twining around some unseen pole. Midway, it tilted back to the right slightly but never truly reached back to its centre line. Instead, it shot up straight from its off-centre position on the left before forking and branching outwards in a quadrant-shaped arc._

_And to add to its overall strangeness, Harry sensed a rather deep melancholy in it when he resumed his leaning position against it. If he closed its eyes and just listened, he could hear the wind whistling between its branches sounding a lot like hysterical weeps._

_“You’ve been avoiding me.”_

_Harry whirled around to face his left to find a woman seated beside him. A woman that he was certain had not been there before._

_He blinked again._

_“I wouldn’t call it avoiding if I just can’t fall asleep well,” he muttered back after a beat._

_The woman turned to give him an amused smile. Her ebony curls which tumbled past her shoulders were dancing under an unseen breeze, Harry noted absently._

_“Lying doesn’t suit you, Harry Potter.”_

_Harry looked away._

_Well, it couldn’t be helped really if he forced himself to wake whenever he found this particular landscape morphing into existence within his mindscape. He had good reason to avoid this place, in his opinion._

_“And what would that reason be?”_

_Harry didn’t need to ask how the woman had read his mind. He knew she was capable of doing more than that without even lifting a finger._

_“Well, you ask and expect too much from me whenever we meet, Mistress Death. It rather makes me wary to come before you.”_

_Death chuckled beside him. Harry simply continued gazing ahead of him, taking in the barren land that surrounded him. It seemed that the only thing that “lived” in this landscape was the Yew tree, though Harry doubted the tree was alive. Even it was, it certainly didn’t seem very happy to be alive._

_“It isn’t,” Death told him quietly, tone turning rather despondent._

_Harry gave the woman a curious look but the entity had turned away._

_“I hardly think what I ask of you is much, Harry,” Death replied to him after a beat, ignoring the topic of the tree behind them._

_Harry didn’t probe. He didn’t think he could pry things out of an entity anyways._

_“What I ask of you is something you’ve already done before. I’m only asking you to do it again,” Death reminded him._

_Harry shook his head vehemently._

_“I did it all by accident, without knowing. And due to all the manipulations done to me. I destroyed it all the moment I learnt the truth,” Harry replied with a glare. “Besides, this is the past. What you say I’ve done – I have technically not done it yet.”_

_Harry gave the smiling woman beside him a hard stare._

_“And if I can help it, I will be ensuring it doesn’t happen at all.”_

_Death laughed. Her laughter sounded like the tinkling of bells, light yet ringing. But images of cobwebs and bleeding skin were what the sound evoked in Harry’s memory despite its airy quality._

_“Silly Harry, do you think really that merely destroying my Hallows would vanish their mark on you?”_

_Harry blinked and whirled around to face the entity in dread._

_“What do you mean?”_

_Death smiled, pearly teeth gleaming at him from behind rosy lips. Harry wondered why the entity had chosen this particular form while visiting him today. Usually, every form the entity wore had some part that showed signs of rotting and well – death. But this current form he was witnessing was rather healthy looking with no visible parts in danger of dropping off or bleeding._

_“I am a timeless being, Harry Potter,” Death replied with a sage smile. “It doesn’t matter to me if you are back in the past or eons into the future. If your soul has been claimed by me even once across time and space, it seals your fate.”_

_Death’s smile didn’t change but Harry thought it suddenly felt sinister somehow._

_“And you mastered my Hallows once upon a time. You cannot escape that truth no matter if you destroy my Hallows even now in the past. Your soul has been marked.”_

_Harry slumped further into trunk behind him, suddenly feeling equally as miserable as the despair-ridden tree that leant him support._

_“Some destinies cannot be altered, Harry. You already have the title. You will always have the title. Accept it, child. Collect my Hallows again.”_

_“Nobody can master you,” Harry bit out with a frown. “At least not in the term that means enslavement. Mastering you only refers to dying and entering your realm.”_

_Harry gave the smiling woman before him a hard stare._

_“I’m well aware your Hallows exist for another reason that the mortal realm has not understood. What is it and why do you want me to collect them?”_

_Death chuckled._

_“The reason for their existence has long been fulfilled when you united them all the first time in your life, Harry,” the entity replied in her soft voice. “As for why I want you to collect them now, well I think I’m doing you a favour.”_

_Harry frowned._

_“How? By being vague?” he grumbled._

_“You need to stop being so rude to the one who vouched for you and your lovers’ drastic plea to be sent back in time,” Death told him with a pout._

_Harry stilled._

_“You vouched for us with the fates?”_

_“Why of course, Harry,” the woman purred. “What else would I do? Oppose my favourite human?”_

_Harry rolled his eyes._

_“What do you want from me?” he asked tiredly._

_“Reunite my Hallows again,” Death replied without missing a beat._

_Harry frowned._

_“If I am already marked by them and my fate is sealed, why does it matter if I collect them or not?” he asked the entity suspiciously._

_Death’s smile widened._

_“Do you want your status as my Hallows’ Master to be revealed to everyone?”_

_Harry shook his head, aghast._

_“By Morgana no!”_

_“Then collect them to ensure that doesn’t happen.”_

_Harry frowned._

_“Are you threatening me?”_

_Death laughed as she shook her head._

_“Silly Harry no. I’m trying to help you.”_

_Harry tilted his head, confused._

_“Tell you what,” Death leaned close to him. “How about a compromise for now. Collect one of my Hallows before this year’s Samhain. And I’d grant you this gift. I’ll bend the rules and time to let you see your three on the night that the lines between realms blur.”_

_Harry stilled completely._

_“You can do that?” he asked the entity._

_“I am timeless, Harry. Why can’t I?”_

_Harry looked back ahead and cursed the longing that grew within him._

_“And after Samhain? What happens to this ‘Reunite all my Hallows’ campaign?” he asked._

_“After you collect one of it, I have faith you’ll understand why I want you to collect the others in your own term, Harry.”_

_Harry gave the entity a sharp look._

_“Confident, aren’t you?”_

_Death smiled._

_“Very.”_

_“And what if I still refuse to reunite the Hallows after Samhain?” Harry asked defiantly._

_Death smiled._

_“Well, then I will simply stay here and watch you suffer for your poor life decisions,” the entity replied with a serene smile._

_Harry gave the woman a dirty look._

_“What? I have already warned you plenty of times. And by Samhain, you’ll understand why I warned you so much.”_

_Harry sighed and pulled his knees to his chest._

_“Is there like some time limit to all this Hallow hunting?”_

_Death smiled mysteriously._

_“Why do you ask?”_

_“Well Noodles gave me some rather weird warning that said I don’t have much time.”_

_Death smiled._

_“He wasn’t referring to the Hallow Hunting, Harry.”_

_Harry hummed._

_“So it is what I think it is.”_

_“Yes.”_

_Harry hummed again and fell silent._

_“You’re not going to ask how long you have left in the past?” Death asked curiously._

_“No.”_

_“Why not?”_

_“I’ve seen you many times in many forms on the battlefields, Death. I don’t want to spend my living days envisioning more on how I’ll actually die with the knowledge of when that day will be in the mix. The nightmares are all terrible as it is.”_

_Death sighed._

_“I’m not all terrible, you know?”_

_Harry gave the lady a smile._

_“I know. But that doesn’t make departing life any easier, Death.”_

_The entity didn’t respond. Harry turned to find her staring blankly at the tree behind him instead, incomprehensible shadows in her eyes._

_“Death?”_

_The woman turned to Harry._

_“Are you alright?”_

_A smile spread on her face before it morphed into a full-blown laughter._

_“This is why I rather like you mortal. No one else would ask such a question to me.”_

_Harry rolled his eyes._

_“Whatever,” he muttered._

_Harry stared as he suddenly found himself fading suddenly._

_He gave Death a curious look._

_“Our time’s up,” Death told him. “Until next time, Harry Potter.”_

_Harry faded away completely._

* * *

~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and Comment Please?


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